UNH drops charges against at least four people arrested during May 1 pro-Palestine protest

In this photo taken Wednesday April 6, 2016 students walk past the historic Thompson Hall at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H. The water system serving the University is among more than two dozen in New Hampshire that have exceeded the federal lead standard at least once in the last three years. (AP Photo/Jim Cole) Jim Cole/AP file photo

By JEREMY MARGOLIS

Monitor staff

Published: 07-31-2024 4:20 PM

A University of New Hampshire prosecutor on Tuesday dropped criminal charges against at least four of the people arrested during a May 1 pro-Palestine protest after they reportedly accepted plea agreements.

The four cases were dismissed nearly three months after UNH police charged 12 people with disorderly conduct and trespassing, and a day before nine of them were set to be arraigned in Dover District Court.

The agreements involved 30 hours of community service and a period under which the arrestees must remain in “good public standing”, according to Adeena Ahsan, a UNH graduate student who was not arrested but had been in communication with those offered plea deals.

UNH prosecutor Frank Weeks declined to comment on the nature of the plea deals.

Of the other eight people arrested, charges had already been dropped against a “counter-protester” after a friend of his emailed then-President of UNH James Dean that he had been “mistaken for a protester,” according to a report from the Boston Globe.

Cases remain pending against the other seven, including against two students who are also facing assault charges. One of them, 21-year-old rising UNH senior Aidan Turner, has said he was mistakenly identified and then violently arrested by Weeks, the UNH prosecutor who is also a police captain. His case is currently set to go to trial on Sept. 10.

The other, 29-year-old graduate student Sebastian Rowan, has been charged with two counts each of assault on a police officer and resisting arrest. His case is currently before a grand jury with an indictment decision expected by Aug. 21, according to court records.

It was not immediately clear whether the remaining five people had been offered a plea deal or not.

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