{"id":3906,"date":"2026-07-06T17:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T17:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3906"},"modified":"2026-07-06T17:10:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T17:10:00","slug":"california-ag-warns-of-impacts-from-berkeley-based-animal-activists-overturned-sonoma-county-convictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3906","title":{"rendered":"California AG warns of impacts from Berkeley-based animal activist\u2019s overturned Sonoma County convictions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A recent California appeals court opinion, which overturns two of an animal activist\u2019s three convictions in a Sonoma County conspiracy case, establishes \u201ca consequential new rule\u201d for criminal matters and should not be cited as a standard, the state Attorney General\u2019s Office says.<\/p>\n

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In a June 26 letter to the California Supreme Court, the AG Office requests depublication of the First Appellate District in the case of Wayne Hsiung, a co-founder of Berkeley-based group Direct Action Everywhere, who was convicted in November 2023 on one felony count of conspiracy and two misdemeanor counts of trespassing.<\/p>\n

Any individual may submit a letter of 10 pages or less contesting publication of an opinion in California as per court rules. The AG\u2019s letter, replete with technical language and references to past cases, centers less on upholding Hsiung\u2019s convictions and more on necessity and mistake-of-law elements that were key in the state Court of Appeal\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n

A \u00a0\u201cnecessity defense\u201d applies when someone commits a criminal act during an emergency in order to prevent a greater harm from occurring. With \u201cmistake of law,\u201d a defendant may claim they misunderstood a law and didn\u2019t know they were acting illegally.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court of Appeals opinion conflates the two situations,\u201d the letter states. \u201cAccording to the opinion, the mistake of law defense is actually an inquiry into whether a defendant \u2014 who knew he was violating the law \u2014 thought he would be able to establish that he was not blameworthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy conflating two quite distinct doctrines,\u201d the letter continues, \u201cthe opinion plants the seed for confusion in future cases about specific intent, necessity and mistake of law and makes a defendant\u2019s own moral code a defense to specific intent crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Letters requesting an opinion\u2019s depublishing are typically included with a petition for review, which the AG\u2019s Office filed on June 8. Like its letter, the office\u2019s review petition highlights a statewide impact of the Court of Appeal\u2019s opinion but not efforts to uphold Hsiung\u2019s convictions.<\/p>\n

His appellate case cannot be finalized until ongoing discussions wrap up. Among them are his own efforts to overturn his third and final conviction.<\/p>\n

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On June 7, the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project made its own petition for a review in order to get Hsiung\u2019s third conviction overturned. It argues, in part, that the court erred in its finding that the \u201cnecessity defense\u201d applied to emergencies but not planned responses for anticipated tragedies.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf allowed to stand, the (Court of Appeal\u2019s) categorical bar will reshape the necessity defense across the contexts in which it most often arises,\u201d Hsiung\u2019s petition states. \u201cIt would foreclose the defense for neighbors who coordinate to cut a firebreak across private land as a wildfire bears down on their town; for victims of sustained domestic violence whose escape from a pattern of abuse requires deliberate planning; and for homeless individuals who prepare to sleep outside when all shelters are full night after night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hsiung\u2019s cases derived from DXE protests at Sunrise Farms in 2018 and Reichardt Duck Farm in 2019. He argued that birds were being rescued from abusive conditions as an act of necessity that outweighed unlawful activity that occurred in the process.<\/p>\n

The appeals court backed Sonoma County Judge Laura Passaglia\u2019s decision preventing Hsiung from using a \u201cnecessity defense\u201d in his trial, noting the protests were organized and not in response to unexpected emergencies. But where Passaglia and the appeals court differed was on whether jurors should have been instructed on a mistake-of-law defense.<\/p>\n

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Hsiung maintained that his actions were based on opinions he received from legal and veterinary experts and asked that the jury be instructed on the mistake-of-law defense. If he believed in good faith that his actions were legal, he argued, any intent to commit trespass or conspiracy should be negated.<\/p>\n

Passaglia had refused Hsiung\u2019s request, reasoning that necessity can\u2019t be the basis of a mistake-of-law defense. But because the overturned conspiracy and trespass counts were both based on intent, the appeals court found jurors should have been informed it was possible to connect necessity and mistake of law.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefendant should have been permitted to rely on some or all of those opinions to prove to the jury his good faith, albeit mistaken, belief that he and his colleagues had a right to trespass to rescue or to prevent significant harm to the animals,\u201d Justice Teri L. Jackson wrote in the opinion.<\/p>\n

The AG\u2019s Office letter counters this opinion, opens the doors to defendants downplaying allegations of intent, and, \u201cIn short, a belief in necessity is now a defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Supreme Court has about 60 days to decide whether to review the opinion.<\/p>\n

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A state Court of Appeal in April overturned two of Wayne Hsiung’s three convictions stemming from incursions at two Petaluma-area poultry facilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia AG warns of impacts from Berkeley-based animal activist\u2019s overturned Sonoma County convictions - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3906\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California AG warns of impacts from Berkeley-based animal activist\u2019s overturned Sonoma County convictions - 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