Three protesters charged at a pro-Palestinian demonstration at UNC-Chapel Hill in April accepted plea bargains Monday in a court hearing in Hillsborough.
The deferred-prosecution agreements require them to perform 24 hours of community service and pay court costs. The district attorney’s office has agreed to dismiss their second-degree trespassing charges if they meet those requirements and stay out of trouble for six months.
All 40 people charged with misdemeanors stemming from April 30 and May 8 campus protests, including UNC students and area residents, have been offered deferred prosecution or a conditional discharge requiring them to perform community service.
More than half have decided to take their cases to trial before an Orange County District Court judge in December or at a future, undetermined date, their attorneys have said. Others have not decided yet whether to accept plea bargains, defense attorney Gina Balamucki said.
Any who are found guilty can appeal their cases to Superior Court for a jury trial, she said.