The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office is at fault for the “leniency” of the 30-day jail sentence for seven anti-Israel protesters, who blocked traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco in April 2024, Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, told JNS.
Teresa Caffese, a judge in the Superior Court of San Francisco County, “gave each defendant 30 days in county jail, six months of probation, fines and restitution,” Goldfeder said. “The prosecution had asked for 16 days, calculated as four hours of blocked bridge multiplied by four guilty counts—a formula with a certain accountant’s charm but no deterrent force whatsoever.”
JNS sought comment from the district attorney’s office.
The seven protesters were part of a group of 26 arrested in April 2024 after blocking traffic on the bridge for four hours that morning. The sentence, handed down on Friday, includes four days’ credit for time served, and half of the sentence can be conducted via a San Francisco Sheriff’s Office work release program.
“Consider the full arc. Twenty-six people were charged for shutting down one of the most critical arteries in the country. Nineteen had their cases dismissed or diverted before trial,” Goldfeder told JNS. “When the jury hung on the felony conspiracy count, the DA declined to retry it, reasoning in part that a conviction was unlikely to achieve meaningful change.”
“If a different cause had chained itself with lockboxes across the Golden Gate for four hours, keeping patients from appointments and healthcare workers from patients, does anyone really believe the felony gets dismissed as not worth the resources?” he said.
“The false imprisonment convictions matter. Juries almost never convict protesters of trapping people, and prosecutors nationwide now have a template,” he told JNS. “But look at what the verdict is worth in practice. Half the 30 days can be served through the sheriff’s work program. The sentence is stayed pending appeal, and the all-in cost runs about $2,300 per defendant.”
“The groups planning the next blockade can book that as an operating expense,” he said.
Tali Klima, spokeswoman for the Bay Area Jewish Coalition, told JNS that “with this slap on the wrist, the legal system has sent a clear message. Illegal activity that compromises public safety is allowed in the Bay Area.”
“Based on celebrations in the courtroom afterwards, the protesters and their supporters got the message loud and clear,” she said. “We anticipate they will continue to pull dangerous stunts to get public attention at any cost.”
