UCD Student Arrested After On Campus Stabbing
The California Aggie
May 24
UC Davis first-year student Justin Burton was arrested Sunday morning on three counts for allegedly stabbing a fellow UCD student.
Burton is charged with attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon and making terrorist threats.
Police spokesman Paul Pfotenhauer said the incident began at approximately 2 a.m. Sunday, when Burton was involved in a verbal argument with an ex-girlfriend at his residence at UCD’s Thoreau Hall.
After Burton left Thoreau Hall, his former girlfriend called her current boyfriend, a UCD sophomore, to tell him about the incident.
Her current boyfriend, whose identity was not released, said he happened to meet Burton outside near the bike lanes on Russell Boulevard, where a struggle ensued.
Burton allegedly pulled out a knife and advanced on the current boyfriend, who was stabbed three times in the arm. Burton received facial injuries in the fight.
Bystanders separated the struggling pair, and a friend of the stabbing victim drove him to Sutter Davis Hospital, where he was treated and released at 4 a.m.
UC Davis Police Dept. officers arrested Burton at his residence around 3 a.m. Sunday.
The UCDPD is conducting an investigation and has yet to find the weapon used in the stabbing. Pfotenhauer said Burton has not been cooperating with police.
No Suspects in Burning of Anti-Zionist Mural
New University
May 26
An early-morning blaze destroyed a 6-foot by 10-foot Anti-Zionist mural created by the UC Irvine Society of Arab Students (SAS) in honor of their fourth annual Anti-Zionist week.
At approximately 12:25 a.m. on Friday, May 21, firefighters and the UCI Police Dept. responded to a call from a campus employee informing them of a fire next to the flagpole turnabout.
Police have not yet identified any suspects.
“We don’t know who did it so we don’t want to name any names, but the people who did this are afraid of the truth and by those who want to silence the justified Palestinian cause,” said Nabil Atalla, a third-year international studies major and member of SAS.
SAS member and junior international studies major Ramy Ballout said the mural, created entirely out of cardboard boxes and paint, was erected on Monday, May 17, and depicted images of Palestinian children being terrorized. Images included the remains of Palestinian homes after demolition by Israeli troops and a map of the wall in the West Bank.
Merav Ceren, second-year biology major and president of Anteaters for Israel, said despite some confrontations between the two groups, his organization denies any involvement in the incident.
“We have no idea who did it,” Ceren said. “I am currently contacting [SAS] and letting them know that this destruction is not OK and that we fully support their First Amendment rights. This is not what Anteaters for Israel stands for.”
Three on Trial For Alleged Rape of UCLA Student
Daily Bruin
May 19
The trial of three former Carson High School students accused of raping a UCLA student in a dormitory building last year is in its third week, and the process is likely to last for at least another month.
Though the defendants – Chuwan Anthony, Jamar Dawson and DeShawn Stringer – were under the age of 18 when the alleged crimes occurred, they are being tried as adults because of the nature and severity of the crimes, which means they could face prison time if convicted.
All three defendants are now 18. Stringer could receive up to 34 years in prison, while Anthony and Dawson could each face 42 years, said Jane Robinson of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The trial, which began May 4, will likely last into June, Robinson said.
On May 6, the victim, who is still a UCLA student, testified she had said “no” several times during the incident, but did not resist because she didn’t know what would happen if she did, according to a Los Angeles Times article published May 7.
“I had never met him before, and I didn’t know what he was like or what he would do,” she said, according to the Times. “I already said ‘no’ several times, and he was still persistent. I didn’t resist. I didn’t know what would happen if I would.”
Defense attorneys in the case have argued the sex was consensual, focusing on the fact that the victim did not immediately report the crime and instead turned in two papers, attended class and went to the student health center, according to the Times.
The rape is reported to have occurred Dec. 5, 2002, when the defendants were visiting UCLA on a trip sponsored by their high school. The three left their tour group and entered the Fir Grove building of the De Neve residential housing complex, where they allegedly raped the student.
