After disrupting a school sponsored speech at UC Irvine being given by the Israeli Ambassador to the US eleven students were sanctioned by the university and subsequently indicated by a grand jury.
Yesterday the trial began with opening arguments on both sides citing free speech rights.
Prosecutors said the so-called Irvine 11 "shut down" Ambassador Michael Oren, preventing him from freely exchanging ideas with those who went to hear him speak at UC Irvine on Feb. 8, 2010.
Defense attorneys argued that the students expressed political views in a legal protest and that prosecuting them infringes on their rights.
Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Wagner said the defendants orchestrated a protest that interrupted Oren's speech every few seconds by shouting scripted lines and calling him a war criminal.
"They didn't want to have an exchange of ideas to see who was telling the truth and who was not," Wagner said. "What their intention was, make no mistake, was to shut him down."
The defendants are charged with misdemeanor conspiracy to commit a crime and misdemeanor disruption of a meeting, charges which could yield up to six months of jail time. The trial is expected to last through September.