April 15, 2024: 26 Bay Area community members (the Golden Gate 26 or GG26) were arrested on the Golden Gate Bridge while protesting the genocide in Gaza and its funding by US taxpayers.
After their initial arrest they spent 48 hours in jail. In the days that followed, the District Attorney’s office and California Highway Patrol (CHP) solicited commuters to submit claims if they experienced delays, with the promise of financial compensation. This solicitation enabled the prosecution to collect dozens of alleged victims of false imprisonment [SF Standard, NBC Bay Area].
The CHP seized the defendants’ phones and attempted to search them. Defense counsel filed a motion to have the phones returned that was denied. The search did not return any relevant information.
CASE OVERVIEW and TIMELINE
August 2024: Four months after the protest, the DA’s office formally filed the charges against the GG26, who were re-arrested and held in jail for an additional 24 hours. Notably, 8 of the GG26 were charged with felony conspiracies; all 26 were charged with 38 counts of false imprisonment each. [SF DA 2024]
Included in the DA’s charging press release was an announcement that the Golden Gate Bridge District had filed a restitution claim of over $162,000 for lost toll revenue. [SF DA 2024]
November 2024: a week-long preliminary hearing of defendants facing felonies led to the dismissal of many false imprisonment charges due to insufficient evidence. One defendant had all evidence against her suppressed and her charges were not refiled. However, at that same hearing, the judge denied the motion to reduce the felony charge to a misdemeanor, citing the high restitution amount claimed by the Golden Gate Bridge. [KQED]
December 2024: 5 motions were raised by the GG26 defense team and subsequently denied by the judge: demurrer, Murgia motion, Racial Justice Act motion, Noroff motion, and a motion to dismiss in the interest of justice.
Summer/Fall 2025: a months-long supporter-led grassroots campaign urging the Golden Gate Bridge District to withdraw its restitution claim ensued. The campaign involved community-led negotiations, petitions from public officials, and nearly 100 community members offering public comments at the Golden Gate Bridge District’s board meetings. Following this tremendous show of support, the Golden Gate Bridge claim was resolved.
November 2025: At a restitution hearing, many of the individual motorists' restitution claims were dropped, and the remaining 9 were paid by the GG26. With restitution resolved, 15 out of the 18 misdemeanor co-defendants completed diversion and had their cases subsequently dismissed.
January-March 2026: Those with felony charges returned to re-petition the court to reduce the felonies to misdemeanors so they could qualify for diversion too. However, the motion was denied once again by a different presiding judge, this time without any explanation. Without any kind of reasonable settlement or plea deal on the table, this forced their cases to trial. Going to trial is an astonishing waste of taxpayer resources.
In February 2026 one out of the 3 misdemeanor defendants who had previously refused the diversion deal had their case dropped unexpectedly. The remaining 2 misdemeanor defendants requested the original diversion deal on April 15th 2026, the request was granted, and their cases are on track to be resolved on June 15th, 2026.
April 30 2026: Seven codefendants facing felony charges began their jury trial. The trial is expected to last through mid-July 2026.
