Jonah Yulish and Gabriel Sirkin, two of the four students arrested at a Student Senate meeting earlier this month, are scheduled to attend a pretrial hearing Wednesday morning flanked by their attorneys.
Jonah Yulish and Gabriel Sirkin, two of the four students arrested at a Student Senate meeting earlier this month, are scheduled to attend a pretrial hearing Wednesday morning flanked by their attorneys.
All four — Maxwell Peltz, 20; Rebecca Sebo, 22; Sirkin, 20; and Yulish, 19 — pleaded not guilty to individual counts of disturbing a lawful meeting, a fourth-degree misdemeanor carrying a maximum sentence of up to 30 days in jail and a $250 fine.
They are to appear in Athens County Municipal Court at 8 a.m.
Larry Zuckerman, an attorney with Zuckerman Daiker & Lear Co., will represent Peltz on Oct. 7 at 1:30 p.m. at a rescheduled pretrial. Zuckerman said he did not know why pretrial had been moved.
Zuckerman said that Peltz “didn’t say a word” during the senate meeting, and therefore did nothing to cause a disruption.
“My client just stood there,” Zuckerman said.
He went on to explain that the other students were in their full rights to voice their opinion. At the time when the students spoke, it was the designated portion of the meeting for the student body to express their viewpoints.
The students and their attorneys will sit down with City Prosecutor Tracy Meek to go over details of the case. The pretrial will provide the opportunity for the two sides to discuss any resolutions in the case, as well as discuss any motions to dismiss the case.
“99 percent of trials are resolved in the pretrial,” Meek said, adding that the jury trial is therefore not often needed.
Meek declined to offer any comments judging the pretrial before it happened, saying only that “it’s an opportunity to discuss the facts.”
In the past, Zuckerman said he has dealt with numerous first amendment cases. He’s represented journalists from The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, as well as radio personalities, he said.
“It’s a classic unconstitutional case ... The law is not being applied to everyone equally,” Zuckerman said. “I’ve never had a case like this in my 30 years of practice.”
Correction: This article originally stated that Larry Zuckerman is the attorney representing Rebecca Sebo. He is not.
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