LA County to Use Public Funds to Aid Defense of Pro-Palestinian Protestors Arrested at UCLA

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion earlier this month to direct the county public defender’s office to provide defense attorneys and legal resources for the pro-Palestinian activists who were arrested at the University of California–Los Angeles (UCLA) earlier this month. The board members voted 4–1 May 7 to allocate $1 million from the county’s public defense funds to the several hundred protesters detained in the protest. Supervisor Kathryn Barger voted against the motion. During the meeting, she questioned the move saying public defenders are already available to defendants who cannot afford legal representation. Pro-Palestine protestors link arms across from members of law enforcement in an encampment at UCLA in Los Angeles on May 2, 2024. (Eric Thayer/Getty Images) Several UCLA students spoke during the meeting’s public comment advocating for the resolution, including multiple members of the school’s Undergraduate Students Association Council, which represents the undergraduate study body at the university....