Two student protesters arrested at UF accept plea deals in criminal cases

Two University of Florida students arrested earlier this year during pro-Palestinian protests on campus have accepted plea deals to criminal charges and will pay a small fine without jail time.

Keely Nicole Gliwa, 23, of Gainesville, and Roseanna Yashoda Bisram, 20, of Ocala, pleaded no contest to a charge of resisting an officer without violence, according to court records. Under a deferred prosecution agreement, the cases against them would be dropped within six months if they are not arrested again, pay $150 in court fees and donate $150 to children’s charities.

Gliwa and Bisram, who previously pleaded not guilty and rejected plea deals, did not immediately return phone messages Tuesday. Each remains suspended from enrollment at UF and banned from campus for three years.

Meanwhile, a prosecutor confirmed in court Tuesday that the office extended a plea deal to another person arrested in the protests, Jinx Rooney, 23, of Valrico, Florida. Rooney, who was not in the courtroom, has no apparent affiliation with UF. They did not accept the plea in their misdemeanor case, and the judge on Tuesday set the next court hearing for Oct. 8.

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Gliwa and Bisram’s pleas, quietly accepted by Alachua County District Court Judge Meshon Rawls two weeks ago, represent the first resolutions in criminal cases filed against nine people — including six UF students — arrested on campus April 29 during a demonstrations against Israeli violence in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack in October.

Campus police and Florida Highway Patrol officers arrested the nine, who were protesting in a grassy plaza on the public university’s campus.

In earlier days the university had distributed warnings threatening academic punishment for anyone using crowns or loudspeakers to amplify their voices, possessing weapons or protesting inside campus buildings. Other rules were more vague, such as one that said “no interruptions,” one that prohibited the erection of permanent structures, or another that said signs must be carried in the hand at all times.

All nine were charged with misdemeanors, except for one student, Allan Hektor Frasheri, 21, of Largo, Fla., who was accused of spitting on a police officer while his classmates were being arrested and faces a charge of battery. Frasheri has a court hearing scheduled for Wednesday this week.

Some of the other cases were headed for trial as early as next week.

Gliwa, a graduate student studying biochemistry and molecular biology, expected to graduate May 2. The university withheld Gliwa’s degree in the case and suspended him from re-enrollment for three years. Gliwa is also banned from the school campus for three years.

The University also suspended Bisram and banned him from the campus for three years.

A civil rights group, the Philadelphia Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said the video of Gliwa’s arrest shows Gliwa comforting a student who was having a panic attack when police arrived, urging the student to leave with them after police ordered everyone to disperse. . Then Gliwa was arrested.

Gliwa and Bisram faced additional charges of failing to comply with police and wearing a mask during a crime, but the State Attorney’s Office dropped those charges early in its investigation. State’s Attorney Brian Kramer is a Republican facing re-election in November.

In closed-door administrative penalty proceedings, a university hearing body recommended that Gliwa receive only probation. This was rejected by the new Dean of Students, Chris Summerlin, who suspended her for three years.

At the time, Gliwa said they were deeply disappointed.

“This battle is not over and I will continue to fight, not just for myself, but to ensure that future students are not victimized by the university for speaking out about the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” Gliwa said in a statement.

Another protester, Charly Keanu Pringle, 21, of Jacksonville, was arrested again last week after UF police officers encountered her walking on campus Friday morning. She had also been banned from campus for three years.

Pringle, who did not attend UF, remained in the county jail Tuesday on $2,000 bond in the latest violation case.

When she was arrested and in court records, Pringle said she was a student at nearby Santa Fe College, but the school said she had not been enrolled since last spring semester.

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This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at [email protected]. You can donate to support our students Here.

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