Sunrise Farms, Petaluma Poultry, Reichardt Duck Farm

Over 100 nonviolent activists have been arrested at factory farms in Sonoma County for taking nonviolent direct action to help suffering animals after the government ignored repeated reports of criminal animal cruelty. In October 2018, six activists were charged with 7 felonies each for two actions at factory farms which occurred in May 2018 (at Sunrise Farms) and September 2018 (at McCoy's Poultry, a supplier to Petaluma Poultry). Five of the defendants received additional charges following a third action in June 2019 (at Reichardt Duck Farm). Since then, the prosecution has dismissed all of the charges related to the action at McCoys and a felony charge from Sunrise, and two of the activists, Almira and Jon, have taken plea deals. Now, four activists remain in the case. The preliminary hearings for Rachel Ziegler happened on December 5, 2022, and Judge Urioste ruled that there was enough evidence for the case to continue to trial. The preliminary hearing for the other defendants began in November 2021 and concluded on January 19, 2023, but Judge Honigsberg said he needed some time to consider the defense attorneys' 17b motions (motions to reduce the felony counts to misdemeanors), so Cassie, Priya, and Wayne went back to court on February 6, 2023 to hear the judge's ruling. He granted the 17b motion for Cassie, saying that in his review of the livestreams, he had not seen her seeming to be in a leadership role at the actions. He denied the motions for Priya and Wayne. Cassie now faces 8 misdemeanors, whereas her co-defendants face four felonies and four misdemeanors each, including Rachel. Trial is expected in 2023 for all defendants.