The four Macalester students arrested on March 25 for obstructing entrance to the Federal Building traveled once more to downtown Minneapolis for their court date on Thursday, April 3.

George Norris '03, Luce Guillen-Givins '06, Sam Worley-Ekstrom '06 and Mikey Hurley '03 faced misdemeanor charges for participating in a coordinated act of civil disobedience to protest war in Iraq.

The 10 a.m. hearing was the first of several for the 68 people arrested on March 25, and according to Norris, "the entire day was protestors at court."

The Anti-War Committee, which organized the demonstration, provided counsel for all of those arrested.

"They prepared us," Worley-Ekstrom said about the Anti-War Committee, which sponsored a civil disobedience training session prior to the protests. During that session, speakers explained the way that the court works and what penalties those arrested could expect to face.

The protestors knew they were likely to be arrested. "It was good to know what level they were going to take this to," Guillen-Givins said.

The students were first offered a deal from the prosecuting attorney. That deal would have required the accused to plead guilty to the lesser crime of trespassing as a petty misdemeanor and to accept fines amounting to over $150. Such a plea would not have been marked on student's records.

Norris, Guillen-Givins and Worley-Elkstrom attended the 10 a.m. hearing. The trio, along with a third of the protestors overall, declined the prosecution's offer and instead plead guilty to their original charges, accepting a date for the next stage of the court process.

Hurley's hearing was later that afternoon, at which she accepted the plea bargain offered.

According to the group, the fines offered were higher than usual for arrested protestors. "This is a fairly stiff penalty for what we did," said Norris.

Guillen-Givens explained that they were "trying to set a precedent," and that if they accepted harsh fines, the penalties for future demonstrations "could only get more severe."

The group will return for a pre-trial on May 2. At that time a new plea bargain will be offered. If declined, the students will go to a full trial.

According to defense counsel, pre-trial offers are usually more lenient because the costs of taking protestors all the way to trial is large.

"It was a small risk to plead guilty . . . the expectation is that the lawyers will not want to go trial," Worley-Ekstrom continued.

The main contact for the Macalester students is attorney Randall Morris, who met them at the April 3 hearing and is an active member of the National Lawyers Guild.