Santa Ana, CA - Prosecutors say 10 Muslim students broke the law by ignoring repeated warnings and carrying out a carefully drafted plan to shout down a speech by an Israeli diplomat at the University of California, Irvine.
Orange County Assistant District Attorney Dan Wagner told jurors Monday in closing arguments that emails among the students reveal they knew they could be arrested and charged when they got up, one by one, and interrupted Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren's speech in February 2010.
Wagner says free speech rights are not absolute and the audience had a right to hear Oren.
Defense attorneys will argue Monday afternoon.
The students face misdemeanor charges of conspiring to disrupt a meeting and disrupting a meeting. If convicted, they could face a sentence of up to a year in jail.
