removed<\/a> four chickens from Perdue Farms\u2019 Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse facility on what she described as a \u201crescue\u201d mission.\u00a0<\/p>\nRosenberg is represented by the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, who is leading the appeal process for her conviction and certain aspects of the judge\u2019s ruling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In an interview with The Daily Californian, Rosenberg specifically mentioned challenging the judges\u2019 decision to deny her necessity defense, which allows an individual to break the law in order to prevent a \u201cgreater evil\u201d against \u201csomeone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn California, it doesn\u2019t specify beyond the word \u2018someone,\u2019\u201d Rosenberg said. \u201cOur argument was that \u2018someone\u2019 should apply to animals, because animals are different from inanimate objects and things.\u201d<\/p>\n
The judge denied the argument, as animals are legally classified as \u201cthings,\u201d according to Rosenberg. As a result, the jury was instructed not to consider whether or not what Rosenberg did was \u201cnecessary\u201d to protect the chickens she removed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Additionally, the judge denied some of Rosenberg\u2019s witnesses from testifying, who she claimed had been investigating the alleged animal cruelty in the poultry farm.\u00a0 However, Rosenberg was able to testify at her trial. Cassie King, an organizer with Direct Action Everywhere, the animal rights activism organization Rosenberg is part of, claimed that the intent in removing the chickens was to \u201chelp suffering animals.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to King, the prosecution attempted to paint Rosenberg as a \u201cradical\u201d throughout the trial.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really absurd that they spent so much time going through statements that she has made \u2026\u00a0 just digging through her social media accounts and pulling statements about how slaughtering animals should be illegal,\u201d King said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The lead prosecutor on the case asked the judge to remand Rosenberg into custody following the determination, a move that would place her in jail until sentencing.<\/p>\n
The judge denied this request due to Rosenberg\u2019s lack of criminal history and her personal health concerns. Instead, Rosenberg will wear a GPS-monitored ankle bracelet to ensure she does not return to Petaluma Poultry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe argued that I am a threat to public safety, and it would be in the public\u2019s interest for me to be incarcerated, despite the fact that I\u2019ve never even been accused of a violent crime,\u201d Rosenberg said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In addition to the felony conspiracy charge, Rosenberg was convicted on three misdemeanors: trespass with the intent to disrupt a lawful business, trespass on agricultural lands and tampering with a vehicle, as the chickens were technically taken from inside a truck at the slaughterhouse.<\/p>\n
Rosenberg\u2019s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 3, and she faces up to five years in prison. King said Direct Action Everywhere is planning to rally people at the courthouse ahead of Rosenberg\u2019s sentencing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping hundreds of people will join us at the courthouse on December 3rd to pack the courtroom and show support for not just Zoe, but the act of rescuing animals,\u201d King said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UC Berkeley student and animal rights activist Zoe Rosenberg was found guilty on one felony charge of conspiracy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[25370,25371,22369,143,145,144,25369,149,20246],"class_list":["post-35914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-animal-activist-legal-defense-project","tag-cassie-king","tag-direct-action-everywhere","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-perdue-farms-petaluma-poultry","tag-uc-berkeley","tag-zoe-rosenberg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}