University of California, Los Angeles student Seth Newmeyer was found guilty of a $22,000 vandalism charge Thursday in Long Beach for breaking the door to the Cal State University Chancellor’s Office last fall, when students clashed with police at the Nov. 16 CSU Board of Trustees meeting.
Newmeyer was also found guilty of participating in unlawful assembly the day of the Board meeting. His restitution and sentencing are scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
Last November, the UCLA student gathered with other demonstrators at a Board meeting in Long Beach to protest a potential 9 percent tuition increase. After numerous outbursts, he and other protestors were told to leave the meeting, but the attempt by CSU police to escort them out of the building resulted in officers shoving and pepper spraying students. Protestors then shook and banged on the building’s glass door, causing the door to shatter and cut an officer’s arm.
On the day of the offense, Newmeyer was arrested with four charges of assault and battery on an officer with a deadly weapon (the glass door), vandalism and obstruction of justice.
Newmeyer’s case was then given to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, which dropped the felony charges against Newmeyer. The Long Beach City Prosecutor’s office, however, proceeded in charging the student with criminal misdemeanor offenses.
CSU Spokesman Erik Fallis said the CSU is not involved in the case.
Deputy Public Defender Jinelle Mitrovich represented Newmeyer in court. Deputy City Prosecutor Randall Fudge said he presented a summation of evidence against Newmeyer in court, including two videos of the incident.
“The videos showed Newmeyer exerting force on the glass doors, causing them to break,” Fudge said.
Mitrovich was not available for comment on the case.
The student’s trial began at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, when three witnesses testified: two from the Cal State Long Beach Police Department and a professional organizer from the ReFund California Coalition, who helped plan the protest.
Corporal Christopher Peters from the CSULB Police Department spoke first, relaying his experience at the November meeting. He said CSULB Police were assigned to the Board meeting because they were anticipating a possible protest.
Peters said that after public speakers voiced their opinions at the meeting, protesters made call and response demands to the CSU. Peters said he saw Newmeyer heckle the Board on several occasions during the meeting.
He said there was a peace disturbance, prompting an order for police to escort people out of the Dumke Auditorium. The meeting was then moved to an alternative location.
Peters and Officer Christopher Brown said they were both called to the front lobby at 11 a.m.
A mob of people were pushing against the lobby doors, according to Peters.
“[Newmeyer] was violently shaking the doors,” Peters said. “He was maliciously shaking the doors with the intent to break the doors.”
Brown said he then heard a loud noise and looked up, finding that the door’s locking mechanism had been disconnected. He said that Newmeyer had broken the lock. The UCLA student was openly arrested an hour later.
Brown -who booked four arrests, including Newmeyer and three other protestors – said he took Newmeyer’s panda hat, sweater and cell phone into custody. During the trial, Brown read some of the messages from Newmeyer’s phone that were sent to a friend, Clara Bergen, after the protest.
“Look up news for CSU Trustee meeting today at Long Beach,” Newmeyer sent to Bergen the day of the Board meeting. “Tell me if any news of warrants should leak out.”
“Try not to get into any unplanned trouble,” Bergen wrote back to him.
“This one could have messed up my life,” Newmeyer replied.
The protest was initially intended to be peaceful, according to Jonathan Shaffer, an organizer for ReFund California Coalition and a witness presented by Mitrovich. Shaffer, who was assigned as a peacekeeper for the protest, said he put himself in the middle of the friction between the protestors and the doors.
“There was just a mass of people surging at the door,” he said. “Seth had let go of the door and had backed away, then the door shattered.”
Shaffer said he saw force coming from both protestors as well as police. However, he said that he agreed breaking property is not peaceful protest.
“I am for peaceful protest,” he said. “Where the violence came from – that’s undefined.”
The jury deliberated for about two hours before finding Newmeyer guilty. The student was given a restitution fine of $22,000 to the CSU, which covers the costs of replacing the glass door.
“Because he was convicted of damage to property, the law requires that he pay the owner, which in this case is the [CSU],” Fudge said.
However, Fudge said that Newmeyer may not have to pay the full restitution fine. He said the judge, Charles D. Sheldon, will decide Wednesday how much the student will have to pay.
Newmeyer declined to comment on the case.