Latest / UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell / Day 1 of Chicken Rescue Trial

Transcript

Day 1 of Chicken Rescue Trial · UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell

• 1:13
  Hello, I'm Jane Velez Mitchell.
• 1:16
  Welcome to our live gavel to gavel team
• 1:19
  coverage of the chicken rescue trial of Zoey
• 1:24
  Rosenberg.
• 1:25
  Today is day one.
• 1:27
  We are going to be following this trial
• 1:29
  from beginning to end with our panel of
• 1:32
  experts, attorneys, activists that you see here on
• 1:35
  the screen, including a reporter at the scene,
• 1:38
  bringing us the very latest.
• 1:41
  Now, Zoey Rosenberg is charged with one count
• 1:46
  of felony conspiracy and three misdemeanors.
• 1:49
  That includes two trespass and one vehicle tampering.
• 1:52
  She could go to jail for approximately five
• 1:59
  years.
• 2:01
  Here is the action for which she is
• 2:03
  charged.
• 2:04
  Now, normally in a regular world, it's the
• 2:07
  defense that tries to hide the evidence and
• 2:10
  the prosecution that tries to bring it in.
• 2:12
  But this is not an ordinary case because
• 2:15
  Zoey Rosenberg wants to put animal agriculture on
• 2:17
  trial.
• 2:18
  So DXC, direct action, every word, the animal
• 2:21
  rights group that she is a part of
• 2:23
  is pushing out this video and the prosecution
• 2:26
  is trying to keep it from coming in.
• 2:31
  That is an upside down world.
• 2:33
  Last I checked, you know, I want to
• 2:35
  go to Ellen Dent.
• 2:36
  She's an animal rescuer who, an animal activist
• 2:41
  who has, and you're going to have to
• 2:44
  unmute yourself, my dear, who has been a
• 2:48
  part of many of our trials and our
• 2:51
  coverage of previous trials similar in nature.
• 2:56
  Tell us about this upside down world.
• 2:58
  Why would that be that the prosecution tries
• 3:00
  to keep the evidence out and the defense
• 3:02
  wants to bring it in?
• 3:03
  I believe that the prosecution doesn't want people
• 3:07
  to see this.
• 3:07
  They don't want people to see this footage.
• 3:10
  Most people have no idea what happens, you
• 3:14
  know, to these animals that end up on
• 3:17
  their plates.
• 3:18
  And if they did see this footage, you
• 3:20
  know, of these, you know, sick chickens, missing
• 3:23
  feathers, some not even being able to stand
• 3:25
  up, then they, you know, would hopefully find
• 3:29
  empathy within their hearts not to consume their
• 3:32
  bodies.
• 3:33
  So I believe a hundred percent that the
• 3:35
  prosecution is trying to conceal the truth from
• 3:39
  the public.
• 3:40
  And that is exactly what Zoe Rosenberg is
• 3:42
  trying to do is bring the truth to
• 3:44
  the public and, you know, establish the right
• 3:46
  to rescue these poor individuals.
• 3:49
  Excellent point.
• 3:50
  We're going to go straight out to Johnny
• 3:52
  Mora.
• 3:53
  Johnny, you are there at the courthouse.
• 3:56
  Give us a sense of the mood.
• 3:57
  What's going on out there?
• 3:59
  Hi, Jane.
• 4:01
  Yes.
• 4:02
  Johnny here from Santa Rosa.
• 4:05
  Dozens of people here outside of the parking
• 4:07
  lot waiting for the press conference to begin.
• 4:11
  The mood is that of, you know, wild
• 4:15
  curiosity, eyes wide open, lots of people just
• 4:18
  interacting and talking.
• 4:21
  And where are you?
• 4:22
  How far is this from San Francisco?
• 4:24
  I would say this is about an hour
• 4:26
  and a half of 70 miles from San
• 4:28
  Francisco North.
• 4:30
  And so in the county of Sonoma, outside
• 4:33
  of the Superior Court here in Santa Rosa.
• 4:35
  How many DXC supporters are there?
• 4:38
  Yeah, DXC, which is a direct action everywhere
• 4:41
  animal rights organization, I would say we're looking
• 4:44
  at about 50 supporters as of right now,
• 4:46
  but they are pouring in from the parking
• 4:48
  lot from coming in from different parts of
• 4:50
  the country right now.
• 4:51
  So I'd say a little bit over 50.
• 4:53
  And you said there's going to be a
• 4:55
  news conference.
• 4:56
  What is that news conference?
• 4:57
  The news conference is to talk about what's
• 5:01
  happening here on the first day.
• 5:02
  From my understanding, they're going to be establishing
• 5:03
  some parameters for the case.
• 5:05
  No jury selection of any sort as of
• 5:08
  today.
• 5:09
  We're just waiting to hear what they have
• 5:12
  to say.
• 5:12
  All right.
• 5:13
  Well, listen, dig up some people out there
• 5:16
  and bring them on so that they can
• 5:17
  talk.
• 5:17
  I want to go to Tiffany Brunelli.
• 5:20
  You are a retired law enforcement investigator who's
• 5:24
  currently a member of DXC.
• 5:27
  And Tiffany, you were there when Zoe was
• 5:30
  arrested.
• 5:31
  She wasn't arrested the night of the incident.
• 5:34
  She was arrested several months later.
• 5:37
  So tell us about that.
• 5:42
  OK.
• 5:44
  OK.
• 5:44
  We're not hearing you, my dear.
• 5:45
  So we're going to have to ask.
• 5:47
  Let me ask one of the attorneys.
• 5:50
  Shaka Smith, what do you make of the
• 5:52
  fact that this happened in June of 2023
• 5:56
  and then it was five months later on
• 5:58
  the very day that Wayne Chung, who was
• 6:02
  also a co-founder of DXC, was being
• 6:05
  sentenced on another case, that they came around
• 6:08
  and they arrested Zoe Rosenberg?
• 6:13
  I think you have a clear case of
• 6:16
  them trying to make an example of Zoe,
• 6:18
  just to really put down this sort of
• 6:21
  animal rights movement to make sure that they're
• 6:24
  able to kind of operate unfettered.
• 6:26
  And so that's what I make of it.
• 6:29
  Yeah, certainly it appears that they're trying to
• 6:32
  make an example out of Zoe Rosenberg.
• 6:35
  And I want to go to Justine Block,
• 6:37
  who is one of the attorneys that we
• 6:39
  have here today.
• 6:41
  What's really interesting, Justine, is that according to
• 6:50
  direct action everywhere, and I'm going to mute
• 6:54
  Johnny at the scene because it's getting busy
• 6:56
  over there.
• 6:56
  According to direct action everywhere, the total value
• 7:00
  of these chickens, even if they were healthy,
• 7:03
  would be a whopping $24, four chickens, approximately
• 7:08
  $6 each.
• 7:09
  How much do you think the government is
• 7:12
  spending on this prosecution?
• 7:14
  And what is your thought about the contrast
• 7:17
  between the value of the four chickens that
• 7:22
  she rescued, at best $24?
• 7:24
  They also argue these chickens were very sick
• 7:27
  so that their value would actually be zero.
• 7:31
  My thoughts are that the prosecution dropped the
• 7:35
  theft charge because of not wanting to get
• 7:38
  into probably the value of the chickens and
• 7:43
  are focusing on the trespass charge and the
• 7:46
  misdemeanors, trespass and felony conspiracy.
• 7:51
  As I understand, Wayne was convicted on the
• 7:54
  felony conspiracy charges, and they seem to be
• 7:59
  focused on this route of going toward a
• 8:03
  trespass.
• 8:05
  I do think that it's a waste of
• 8:09
  government resources to be enforcing these kinds of
• 8:13
  laws when there is so little recourse.
• 8:16
  We can see, as far as the timing
• 8:18
  you brought up, is that Zoe had taken
• 8:22
  evidence of animal cruelty to the authorities.
• 8:26
  She went above and beyond to document the
• 8:31
  concerns about the welfare and the well-being
• 8:35
  and health of the chickens on the farm,
• 8:39
  where she asked for investigations, went to the
• 8:43
  prosecutor's office.
• 8:44
  They shut the door in her face.
• 8:47
  She went to the sheriff, and it's all
• 8:49
  on video where she is trying again and
• 8:53
  again to get recourse and justice.
• 8:58
  The law enforcement system is failing those that
• 9:03
  care about the well-being of the animals.
• 9:07
  I think that's where the government resources should
• 9:09
  be going, is to put a system in
• 9:11
  place for recourse to investigate better animal cruelty
• 9:16
  concerns.
• 9:19
  Very interesting.
• 9:20
  Thank you.
• 9:21
  Now, what I'd like to do is play
• 9:22
  Zoe telling her side of the story.
• 9:26
  We don't know if she's going to testify,
• 9:28
  but here is Zoe talking to Unchained TV
• 9:32
  to kind of explain why she did what
• 9:34
  she did.
• 9:55
  My name is Zoe Rosenberg.
• 9:56
  I am an animal cruelty investigator and animal
• 9:59
  rescuer with the Grassroots Animal Rights Network, Direct
• 10:01
  Action Everywhere, and I'm the founder of Happy
• 10:04
  Hen Animal Sanctuary in San Luis Obispo, California.
• 10:08
  We just found another chicken on the floor
• 10:10
  of this farm who is in critical condition.
• 10:14
  She's collapsed on the ground.
• 10:16
  She's unable to stand up on her own.
• 10:19
  You can see the other chickens have kind
• 10:21
  of run away from me, and she can't
• 10:22
  even stand up.
• 10:24
  So we're going to get her out of
• 10:25
  here as well and get her the veterinary
• 10:27
  care that she needs so that she can
• 10:29
  survive instead of slowly dying of dehydration on
• 10:32
  the floor of this farm where she can't
• 10:34
  even stand up to reach the water.
• 10:43
  I'm currently facing one felony and misdemeanors and
• 10:46
  up to five and a half years in
• 10:48
  prison.
• 10:48
  I've been wearing an ankle monitor for over
• 10:50
  a year, and it's all because I rescued
• 10:53
  four criminally abused chickens.
• 10:55
  Their names are Poppy, Ivy, Aster, and Azalea.
• 11:00
  All right, Renee King-Stonen, you are a
• 11:03
  former cattle rancher.
• 11:06
  You ran and your husband ran a calf
• 11:09
  -cow operation out of Texas, sending animals off
• 11:12
  to slaughter.
• 11:13
  You had a moment of revelation, and now
• 11:15
  you run a farmed animal sanctuary for rescued
• 11:20
  factory farmed animals.
• 11:21
  What are your thoughts on this case?
• 11:23
  What's the big picture here?
• 11:26
  Thank you, Jane.
• 11:27
  The big picture for me is the definition
• 11:29
  of the cruelty.
• 11:31
  They are treating these chickens as objects, as
• 11:34
  things, and in my opinion, based on what
• 11:39
  we used to do as a cow-calf
• 11:41
  operation, the reason it was called a cow
• 11:44
  -calf operation is because the cows and the
• 11:47
  calves were treated as property.
• 11:49
  Until we can continue to push the narrative
• 11:53
  extremely across the aisle that these animals are
• 11:57
  not objects, they are not things, they are
• 12:00
  sentient beings with a heartbeat, with a right
• 12:02
  to live just like us, until we are
• 12:05
  able to change that narrative, we're going to
• 12:07
  continue to beat our head up against the
• 12:09
  same wall of the authorities, if you will,
• 12:14
  wanting to call these animals things, and so
• 12:19
  that we can prosecute, so that they can
• 12:21
  prosecute people like Zoe and Wayne and others
• 12:25
  because they are stealing property, which we all
• 12:29
  know that is absolutely preposterous that they're not
• 12:31
  property, but according to the authorities and definition,
• 12:36
  they're property, and we are committing crimes, and
• 12:39
  my big picture is we have to change
• 12:41
  that.
• 12:42
  The only way to change that is to
• 12:44
  keep pushing the narrative out like Zoe is
• 12:47
  willing to do to pretty much put her
• 12:48
  freedom on the line, and others in other
• 12:52
  organizations in the right to rescue.
• 12:56
  Excellent, thank you.
• 12:59
  Johnny's got somebody there.
• 13:01
  Johnny, take it away.
• 13:04
  Yes, outside press conference is starting in a
• 13:06
  couple of minutes here.
• 13:07
  We have Curtis Vullimar.
• 13:10
  He's here with us right now.
• 13:11
  Hey, Jane.
• 13:14
  What's happening there?
• 13:16
  So the briefing is about to begin.
• 13:20
  We've got a lot of people gathered out
• 13:22
  here, maybe 75-ish people, maybe 100 people
• 13:25
  that are gathered outside of the courthouse here
• 13:27
  in Santa Rosa, which is in Sonoma County,
• 13:30
  part of the Bay Area.
• 13:32
  Well, depends on who you ask.
• 13:33
  There's hot debates on what constitutes the Bay
• 13:36
  or not, but we're about 45 minutes to
• 13:39
  an hour north of San Francisco.
• 13:42
  This is the courthouse here in Santa Rosa.
• 13:46
  The briefing is about to begin.
• 13:49
  This is Zoe Rosenberg's chicken rescue trial, the
• 13:53
  first day of trial, and I was just
• 13:55
  informed that jury selection will not be today,
• 13:58
  probably won't be until Wednesday, maybe Thursday, knowing
• 14:00
  how slow everything here has moved just from
• 14:03
  past experience, but it sounds like today and
• 14:07
  tomorrow and maybe Wednesday will be more pre
• 14:10
  -trial motions arguing what sort of evidence will
• 14:14
  be allowed, arguing what sort of defenses will
• 14:17
  be allowed.
• 14:18
  I know that over the past month, month
• 14:21
  and a half, there have been some pre
• 14:23
  -trial hearings.
• 14:24
  The necessity defense is not going to be
• 14:26
  allowed, which is one of the main avenues
• 14:31
  that DXC has been trying to pursue.
• 14:35
  Unfortunately, that is not allowed.
• 14:37
  The necessity defense, again, is saying that you
• 14:41
  are allowed to potentially break a law if
• 14:45
  it prevented greater harm.
• 14:48
  What has happened in the past is they've
• 14:51
  said that this only applies to people, humans,
• 14:54
  and animals are not people in the eyes
• 14:57
  of the law or the court system, so
• 14:59
  the necessity defense has been shut down.
• 15:02
  Mistake of law is another one.
• 15:04
  This one's been used in the past, said,
• 15:06
  hey, yeah, maybe I did this thing, but
• 15:08
  I thought I was in the right, so
• 15:11
  that's mistake of law.
• 15:12
  The judge said that that is not allowed,
• 15:15
  but that it might be open, and he
• 15:18
  might allow it if certain evidence gets introduced
• 15:21
  through the trial that would then allow it.
• 15:24
  All of this stuff will probably be argued
• 15:26
  more in depth today along with what sort
• 15:28
  of evidence will be allowed.
• 15:31
  That was scheduled for two days, I heard,
• 15:34
  but knowing how this courthouse works here from
• 15:38
  being at Wayne's trial and other pre-trial
• 15:41
  hearings for other cases, I wouldn't be surprised
• 15:45
  if these pre-trial stuff took the whole
• 15:48
  damn week, and we don't see any jury
• 15:50
  selection until Monday.
• 15:51
  I wouldn't be surprised if that happened.
• 15:53
  I mean, some are saying this trial could
• 15:55
  go on for five weeks.
• 15:58
  Yeah, sure, easily.
• 16:00
  Wayne's thing lasted over a month.
• 16:02
  I don't remember exactly how long, but I
• 16:04
  think Wayne's trial lasted that long.
• 16:07
  And is there a sense amongst the people
• 16:10
  in community like, wow, four chickens valued at
• 16:14
  $24 in the best case scenario, but zero
• 16:18
  if they're too sick to be processed for
• 16:20
  food, something that's going to be maybe possibly
• 16:24
  debated at trial.
• 16:25
  I mean, there's got to be a lot
• 16:27
  of money being spent on this prosecution.
• 16:30
  Oh, yeah, easily.
• 16:31
  Tons of money being spent on this prosecution,
• 16:33
  and what you just said rings eerily similar
• 16:38
  to everything that happened in the Smithfield trial
• 16:40
  that took place in St. George, where it
• 16:45
  came out in court that the pigs were
• 16:47
  worth a few dollars, and all of this
• 16:52
  money was being spent, and the vet care
• 16:55
  was actually more than the pigs were worth.
• 16:57
  That being introduced was, I think, a key
• 17:01
  piece of evidence that allowed the jury to
• 17:07
  make a decision in finding them not guilty.
• 17:11
  We're unsure if that type of stuff is
• 17:14
  going to be allowed in here, and again,
• 17:15
  that'll probably be discussed this week.
• 17:19
  And will you tell Johnny it's time for
• 17:21
  him to turn the camera in the other
• 17:22
  direction and show us, so flip the camera
• 17:25
  and show us everything that's going on, and
• 17:28
  then when the news conference starts, get that
• 17:30
  camera as close as you can.
• 17:32
  Yeah, you turn it around.
• 17:34
  You know how to do that, and there
• 17:36
  you go.
• 17:36
  Get close, and no, don't be on selfie.
• 17:39
  Switch it out.
• 17:40
  It's great when you get a chance to
• 17:42
  see what's going on behind the camera.
• 17:45
  This is live television, and believe it or
• 17:47
  not, in the olden days when I started
• 17:50
  in TV, this would have cost millions of
• 17:52
  dollars, speaking of money, to have dozens of
• 17:55
  crews and a giant studio, and we've been
• 17:58
  able to put a studio into a computer
• 18:00
  and do this with cell phones, so it's
• 18:03
  really actually a marvel of modern technology.
• 18:07
  But I want to address some of the
• 18:09
  things Christina Koo, an attorney here in Los
• 18:11
  Angeles, that Curtis just brought up about the
• 18:16
  cost of this and also the battles over
• 18:20
  trying to keep the key evidence, the chickens
• 18:24
  and their condition, out of the case.
• 18:27
  Well, you know, I really want to put
• 18:30
  this in context if people haven't really seen
• 18:33
  it.
• 18:34
  I mean, this is a trial that is
• 18:35
  in big farm agricultural area of the state,
• 18:39
  and it's beyond just a trial.
• 18:43
  I mean, to me, it's obviously law enforcement,
• 18:47
  the politics, and everybody is working together against
• 18:51
  Zoe and against the issues that we are
• 18:54
  litigating over.
• 18:56
  I mean, you've seen and you've heard some
• 18:58
  of the issues that typically make no sense
• 19:01
  in the real world of litigation, suppressing information
• 19:06
  and facts and evidence, and normally, like you
• 19:10
  say, it's an upside down world.
• 19:12
  The defendant is usually painted as is criminal,
• 19:15
  and yet this is flipped around, and I
• 19:18
  don't know if the public, you know, feel
• 19:20
  confused about this, and they are prevented from
• 19:23
  seeing Zoe as someone who is a compassionate
• 19:27
  person and someone who's actually a good Samaritan,
• 19:31
  and there are laws on good Samaritan aspects
• 19:34
  in our society where they are protected civilly
• 19:38
  and in some states criminally for doing an
• 19:41
  act that is obviously going to save lives,
• 19:44
  and this includes up north in Sacramento area
• 19:47
  on rescuing dogs and animals and heated cars,
• 19:52
  and those exact reasonings are the same analysis
• 19:56
  that can be used here.
• 19:57
  They are being deprived of air, water, and
• 20:01
  they're exposed to unreasonable and dangerous heat, and
• 20:05
  all of this applies, so it's really just
• 20:08
  a big conflict here, and I really think
• 20:11
  it boils down to the whole animal agriculture
• 20:14
  up there has lobbied and has worked with
• 20:18
  the local authorities and government officials to make
• 20:21
  this trial a big example to everyone.
• 20:24
  You're looking at live images right now of
• 20:29
  the outside of the courthouse where Zoe Rosenberg
• 20:32
  is going to be put on trial.
• 20:34
  We have another wrinkle up until, well, I
• 20:37
  think it was last night or this morning,
• 20:39
  Zoe was hospitalized.
• 20:41
  She has suffered from lifelong diabetes, type 1
• 20:47
  diabetes, so that's diabetes that you don't develop
• 20:51
  from dietary.
• 20:53
  It's something that she's had, and she's been
• 20:56
  hospitalized for the longest time, and we learned
• 21:01
  that she's coming out of the hospital, but
• 21:03
  let's hear from her when she was inside
• 21:05
  the hospital just a week ago.
• 21:07
  I'm currently at the emergency room, and I
• 21:10
  just got told that I'm being admitted to
• 21:12
  the hospital.
• 21:13
  I don't know how long I'm going to
• 21:15
  be there, but this is because of complications
• 21:18
  from type 1 diabetes and gastroparesis.
• 21:21
  This is, you know, not the news I
• 21:23
  was hoping for because I'm preparing for trial,
• 21:26
  but, you know, if I have to do
• 21:28
  trial prep from a hospital bed, then that's
• 21:30
  what we'll do to continue fighting for justice
• 21:34
  for the animals.
• 21:34
  We're going to continue preparing to put our
• 21:37
  best foot forward in this trial.
• 21:40
  All right, well, what do you make of
• 21:42
  that?
• 21:42
  Gee, I'm going to go out to Shaka
• 21:45
  Smith.
• 21:46
  There was a question as to whether or
• 21:49
  not Zoe could even attend, and she was
• 21:52
  going to attend some of the pretrial motions
• 21:54
  from her hospital bed.
• 21:56
  I'm going to unmute you, sir.
• 21:59
  Can you unmute yourself?
• 22:03
  There you go.
• 22:05
  Luckily, we hear just moments ago that she's
• 22:07
  actually out of the hospital, and hopefully she's
• 22:10
  going to show up any second now.
• 22:11
  We're going to get her comments, but wow,
• 22:14
  that's interesting that they were willing to proceed
• 22:17
  with this trial with her in the hospital
• 22:19
  possibly watching the motions on the first day
• 22:26
  of trial from her hospital bed.
• 22:28
  Yeah, and I think, well, it's not really
• 22:30
  important that she be there for the pretrial
• 22:31
  motions.
• 22:32
  You know, that's going to be the judge
• 22:33
  and the attorneys.
• 22:34
  It is a big day regarding the pretrial
• 22:36
  motions about...
• 22:38
  Actually, we're in trial.
• 22:38
  This is day one of the trial.
• 22:40
  Yeah, but for these motions in terms of
• 22:43
  her not being there with the jury because
• 22:44
  the jury's not been selected.
• 22:46
  So we have these motions that are important
• 22:47
  in terms of what jury instructions that might
• 22:49
  be delivered, what evidence might be let in.
• 22:52
  So it's not really necessary that she's there
• 22:53
  for that part of it, but today's a
• 22:56
  big day.
• 22:56
  So I'm glad she's able to attend and
• 22:59
  show that this is important for her.
• 23:01
  When you say today's a big day, put
• 23:03
  this in historical perspective.
• 23:04
  Are we watching history in the making, Shaka?
• 23:08
  Absolutely.
• 23:08
  Right now, we're on that sort of animal
• 23:11
  rights cusp.
• 23:13
  I think Kristen Stilts, a Harvard law professor,
• 23:16
  had written an amicus brief about the whole
• 23:20
  thing about necessity and whether or not that
• 23:22
  should apply to animals as well.
• 23:24
  And she said, of course, it should apply
• 23:25
  to animals.
• 23:25
  So we're really looking at a point of
• 23:28
  law and a point in time where things
• 23:30
  are starting to shift.
• 23:31
  And so I think this case could be
• 23:33
  another sort of bellwether case where we can
• 23:35
  kind of maybe find a little bit more
• 23:37
  justice for the animals, but it's been hard.
• 23:38
  It's been difficult.
• 23:40
  One of our viewers, Lindsay Baker, who is
• 23:43
  also an Unshade TV host, says, brings a
• 23:45
  tear to my eyes to see Zoe Rosenberg
• 23:47
  going through so much, how desperate they are
• 23:49
  to silence her and all activists that expose
• 23:52
  them.
• 23:53
  So look at what's happening.
• 23:55
  This is live at the courthouse.
• 23:56
  And by the way, folks, we're the only
• 23:58
  ones who are bringing you this live coverage
• 24:01
  of the trial, gavel-to-gavel coverage.
• 24:04
  You see some other media there.
• 24:06
  I don't think they're live, though.
• 24:07
  And so thank you.
• 24:09
  Johnny, when this news conference starts, I want
• 24:12
  you to get as close as you can,
• 24:13
  even if you have to scrunch down on
• 24:15
  your knees, or get close to the speaker
• 24:18
  so you can, if you're close to the
• 24:20
  speaker, I'm sure we'll be able to hear
• 24:22
  them.
• 24:22
  But that's a pretty sizable crowd.
• 24:25
  What do you make of that?
• 24:27
  And I'll put that to Renee King-Sonnen.
• 24:30
  What do you make of this crowd?
• 24:32
  Well, I'll tell you.
• 24:33
  Seeing the right to rescue in bold red,
• 24:38
  just stretching all the way across the front
• 24:40
  of that courthouse is, I mean, this really
• 24:44
  brings a bold message.
• 24:47
  And it is so awesome that Unchained TV
• 24:50
  is streaming this live.
• 24:53
  And the message is clear, you know, that
• 24:56
  we should have the right to rescue these
• 24:59
  animals.
• 25:00
  The fact that the necessity defense has been
• 25:03
  pretty much canceled is, to me, an abomination.
• 25:07
  They're wanting to scratch that defense so that
• 25:12
  Zoe, her very core reason for why she
• 25:17
  did this and other activists like her, the
• 25:19
  reason they do that is because they are
• 25:22
  so heartbroken at the way these animals are
• 25:26
  just suffering.
• 25:29
  They're just treated to die in their feces
• 25:31
  and their urine.
• 25:32
  They can't walk.
• 25:33
  We should have a right to rescue these
• 25:36
  poor animals.
• 25:37
  And that bold sign, the signage, the fact
• 25:41
  that you're streaming this live should be across
• 25:43
  all news outlets everywhere.
• 25:46
  And why isn't it?
• 25:48
  Because it's not necessary.
• 25:50
  That's why.
• 25:51
  Because the powers that be are deeming chickens,
• 25:55
  cows, ducks, goats, that they do not have
• 25:58
  the right to be rescued.
• 26:00
  That it's not a necessary defense.
• 26:02
  How horrible that our humanity has come to
• 26:05
  a place where we do not see them
• 26:08
  as sentient.
• 26:10
  I want to read a couple of things
• 26:12
  from the California Poultry Federation.
• 26:15
  Petaluma Poultry has long been a leader in
• 26:17
  free-range and organic poultry, and they're known
• 26:19
  for taking great care of their birds.
• 26:22
  This is a statement from the company saying,
• 26:24
  it's a leader in animal welfare.
• 26:25
  We're dedicated to the highest standards of animal
• 26:27
  care and give our birds space to roam,
• 26:29
  access to the outdoors, enrichment that supports natural
• 26:32
  behaviors, a healthy, balanced diet with no antibiotics
• 26:35
  ever.
• 26:36
  False claims about animal care standards are pushed
• 26:38
  by an extreme group, DXC, with the ultimate
• 26:40
  goal of ending animal agriculture altogether and imposing
• 26:43
  a radical agenda that would threaten the livelihoods
• 26:45
  of Sonoma County farmers and the food security
• 26:48
  of millions of people who rely on animal
• 26:50
  agriculture.
• 26:52
  We invite those companies, that company and any
• 26:55
  company and any agency on any time, that's
• 26:59
  what they have to say.
• 27:00
  Here is a footage released by direct action
• 27:04
  everywhere of Petaluma Poultry factory farms, and it's
• 27:09
  Petaluma's slaughterhouse where she was doing the action
• 27:15
  whereupon she took those four chickens.
• 27:18
  Ellen Dent, you want to weigh in?
• 27:20
  We've sort of given both sides of the
• 27:21
  story here.
• 27:22
  I mean, you can't deny the facts.
• 27:26
  The facts are that this footage was taken
• 27:28
  at these farms and that you can see
• 27:31
  that these animals are suffering immensely.
• 27:35
  You can see that many of them have
• 27:37
  been bred to the point that they cannot
• 27:39
  even stand up.
• 27:40
  Many of them look like they're dying.
• 27:42
  I've seen footage of activists holding dead chickens
• 27:46
  from this farm.
• 27:49
  So, I mean, everything about that statement is
• 27:52
  false.
• 27:53
  You know, DXE is just trying to establish
• 27:56
  the right to rescue these individuals who are
• 27:59
  suffering so immensely.
• 28:02
  And as someone who's been outside of a
• 28:04
  chicken slaughterhouse, when one of these trucks pulls
• 28:06
  up, your face literally burns as you get
• 28:10
  closer to the truck because they're covered in
• 28:11
  so much ammonia.
• 28:13
  They've been raised in filth in most cases
• 28:16
  for their whole lives.
• 28:17
  It is not this farm that they put
• 28:20
  on TV, as Zoe has said before.
• 28:22
  It's not these grassy fields.
• 28:25
  It is these animals supposedly cage-free, but
• 28:28
  they're in cage by each other's bodies.
• 28:31
  So, they're actually contained.
• 28:34
  And it's just heartbreaking to watch this footage.
• 28:38
  And I believe the public has every right
• 28:40
  to see this, and they should see this,
• 28:42
  because by the time these animals get to
• 28:44
  the store, they're ripped apart and put in
• 28:47
  these neat packages.
• 28:48
  And it's just, it's not the truth that
• 28:51
  they were raised in any humane way possible.
• 28:54
  Well, again, Purdue has a huge online pages
• 29:02
  and pages talking about their animal welfare standards.
• 29:06
  So, I invite people to check it out
• 29:09
  for yourself.
• 29:10
  This is just a little bit of the
• 29:15
  writings about animal welfare that Purdue has.
• 29:19
  We invite them on anytime.
• 29:20
  You can go to corporate.purduefarms.com forward
• 29:23
  slash responsibility forward slash animal dash care and
• 29:27
  check it out.
• 29:28
  So, that's one side of the story.
• 29:30
  And then you have dxc's purdueabuse.com, which
• 29:37
  has an eight page report that they say
• 29:39
  documents severe animal cruelty inside these facilities.
• 29:43
  Now, we're not going to decide this today.
• 29:46
  There's a trial underway that essentially the big
• 29:49
  question is, is it going to put animal
• 29:51
  agriculture on trial or is it going to
• 29:54
  put Zoe Rosenberg?
• 29:56
  Zoe Rosenberg is on trial, but she's trying
• 29:57
  to put animal agriculture on trial.
• 29:59
  Let's listen in.
• 30:01
  In one generation and rescuing animals from abuse
• 30:05
  and telling their stories is a really important
• 30:07
  part of how we make that happen, as
• 30:10
  is going on trial and using these trials
• 30:13
  to bring even more attention to the plight
• 30:16
  of non-human animals behind closed doors.
• 30:19
  We have some printouts of the press release
• 30:22
  for this trial, as well as an FAQ
• 30:24
  about the case.
• 30:25
  So, if any press is interested in that,
• 30:27
  you can come find me after hearing from
• 30:28
  our speakers and I'll happily give it to
• 30:30
  you.
• 30:30
  And we also emailed it out via email.
• 30:33
  So, if you did not get the email
• 30:35
  and you would like to, then please also
• 30:37
  see me so that I can add you
• 30:38
  to our press list so you can get
• 30:40
  that information going forward.
• 30:42
  And now, I just want to introduce a
• 30:45
  very incredible DXC activist and animal cruelty investigator
• 30:49
  who is the felony defendant in this Purdue
• 30:52
  rescue trial, Zoe Rosenberg.
• 30:55
  Zoe is a UC Berkeley student, a lifelong
• 30:57
  animal advocate, and the founder of Happy Hen
• 31:00
  Animal Sanctuary, which has saved more than 1
• 31:03
  ,000 neglected or abused animals.
• 31:06
  Zoe has worked with law enforcement to rescue
• 31:09
  animals, but today she is facing a felony
• 31:12
  trial and potentially years in jail because she
• 31:16
  took action to rescue suffering animals when Sonoma
• 31:19
  County law enforcement failed to act.
• 31:22
  So, here's Zoe to tell you what happened
• 31:25
  in her own words.
• 31:34
  Thank you all so much for taking time
• 31:37
  out of your lives to be here today.
• 31:39
  I just got out of the hospital and
• 31:41
  one of my biggest fears throughout my hospital
• 31:43
  stay was that I wouldn't be able to
• 31:44
  be here with all of you because while
• 31:47
  the next few weeks will be some of
• 31:48
  the most important weeks of my life, they
• 31:50
  are also important for a much, much bigger
• 31:53
  reason.
• 31:55
  Less than a 30-minute drive from here,
• 31:57
  nestled between a Starbucks and a subway, lies
• 32:01
  Purdue's Petaluma Poultry Slaughterhouse.
• 32:04
  The cumulative sum of suffering that has been
• 32:07
  felt in this one single place is too
• 32:11
  overwhelming to even attempt to fathom.
• 32:15
  They confine, neglect, maim, and boil baby birds
• 32:20
  en masse.
• 32:22
  Nearly every single day, more than 40,000
• 32:25
  chickens face unimaginable and often criminal mistreatment.
• 32:31
  Repeated attempts to report this facility's misconduct have
• 32:34
  proved futile.
• 32:36
  After seeing law enforcement's failure to act, I
• 32:40
  took action into my own hands, and on
• 32:43
  June 13, 2023, I entered Purdue's Petaluma Poultry
• 32:47
  Slaughterhouse.
• 32:49
  A transport truck had just parked behind the
• 32:52
  slaughterhouse fence.
• 32:54
  On the bed of this truck sat dozens
• 32:56
  of plastic crates.
• 32:59
  Thousands of chickens had been loaded into these
• 33:01
  cages like cargo, packed together so tightly that
• 33:05
  they could barely stand or turn around.
• 33:09
  Each and every one of these chickens was
• 33:12
  an individual with a personality, thoughts, and feelings.
• 33:18
  Each and every one of them had been
• 33:19
  deprived of just about everything from the moment
• 33:23
  that they had hatched.
• 33:25
  Soon, they would be deprived of the one
• 33:28
  thing that they had left, their lives.
• 33:33
  I pulled open one of the crates.
• 33:35
  They slide out like drawers.
• 33:38
  Over a dozen pairs of eyes peered around,
• 33:41
  startled by my intrusion.
• 33:42
  There was one chicken who stood out from
• 33:46
  the rest.
• 33:48
  She was small and pale.
• 33:50
  I lifted her from the cage, examining her.
• 33:54
  I placed her in a padded bucket so
• 33:56
  we would not draw attention as we left
• 33:58
  the facility.
• 33:59
  I closed that crate and I slid open
• 34:01
  another.
• 34:02
  I removed three more chickens who appeared to
• 34:05
  be sick and suffering, and I placed them
• 34:07
  each in their own individual buckets.
• 34:11
  I named these four chickens Poppy, Ivy, Aster,
• 34:14
  and Azalea.
• 34:16
  They were covered in scratches and bruises and
• 34:19
  small wounds.
• 34:21
  They were infested with coccidia parasites.
• 34:24
  Poppy had an injured toe and a respiratory
• 34:26
  infection.
• 34:28
  She was choking on mucus.
• 34:31
  Aster had infected feet.
• 34:33
  They were swollen and filled with pus.
• 34:40
  I asked the public to do something to
• 34:47
  address the animal cruelty and neglect at Purdue's
• 34:50
  facilities.
• 34:52
  The rescue of these four little chickens did
• 34:55
  finally spark law enforcement intervention, just not in
• 34:59
  the way I had hoped.
• 35:01
  Instead of investigating years of criminal animal cruelty,
• 35:05
  they set off on a mission to gather
• 35:07
  evidence on me and on what was perhaps
• 35:10
  the first act of compassion to ever be
• 35:13
  carried out within the slaughterhouse's carefully constructed walls.
• 35:18
  And so today, on September 15, 2025, I
• 35:22
  will enter a courtroom to be tried on
• 35:24
  felony and misdemeanor charges for this act of
• 35:27
  rescue.
• 35:28
  If convicted, I face nearly half a decade
• 35:31
  in jail.
• 35:33
  I have spent the past over 600 days
• 35:36
  being forced to wear an ankle monitor and
• 35:39
  adhere to other strict conditions in order to
• 35:41
  remain out of custody while awaiting this trial.
• 35:45
  In many ways, despite having never been convicted
• 35:48
  of a crime, I have spent the past
• 35:50
  nearly two years being treated as though I
• 35:52
  have already been found guilty.
• 35:56
  Nevertheless, I will walk into trial today and
• 36:00
  every day with my head held high.
• 36:03
  I refuse to accept that helping a few
• 36:06
  baby birds makes me a criminal, let alone
• 36:09
  a dangerous one.
• 36:11
  I refuse to accept that companies have the
• 36:15
  right to torture and kill as they please.
• 36:19
  And in this trial, I will not apologize.
• 36:22
  To apologize would be to say that Poppy,
• 36:25
  Ivy, Asher, and Azalea deserved the fates that
• 36:28
  they were saved from.
• 36:30
  It would be to say that they deserved
• 36:31
  to shiver in a crate, covered in scrapes
• 36:34
  and bruises, as parasites consumed them from the
• 36:37
  inside out.
• 36:38
  It would be to say that they deserved
• 36:40
  suffering and death.
• 36:43
  And so any utterance of an apology would
• 36:45
  be a lie.
• 36:48
  They deserve to be rescued and they deserve
• 36:51
  the safe and happy lives that they now
• 36:54
  live today.
• 36:57
  Of course, it is those safe and happy
• 37:00
  lives that they now enjoy that angers the
• 37:02
  powers that be.
• 37:04
  Every day that they survive is, intentionally or
• 37:07
  not, an act of defiance.
• 37:10
  Every moment that they feel the sun on
• 37:12
  their backs, every breath of fresh air that
• 37:15
  they inhale, and every piece of grass that
• 37:18
  they swallow is an act of rebellion.
• 37:20
  It is an act that angers Purdue and
• 37:23
  Sonoma County law enforcement and every agency or
• 37:26
  company that benefits from the status quo.
• 37:29
  Even the FBI is frightened by their freedom.
• 37:34
  They are frightened by what their freedom and,
• 37:36
  more importantly, their stories represent.
• 37:40
  Their stories are a reminder that every animal
• 37:44
  who is suffering at the hands of animal
• 37:45
  agriculture is someone, someone with a life worth
• 37:49
  living.
• 37:51
  Their stories are a reminder that it doesn't
• 37:53
  have to be this way, that instead of
• 37:55
  treating animals with apathy, indifference, and even outright
• 37:59
  violence, we can instead treat them with compassion
• 38:03
  and respect.
• 38:05
  And one of the things that I most
• 38:07
  wish to see come from this prosecution, from
• 38:09
  this trial, is for the world to learn
• 38:12
  the stories of the chickens who have escaped
• 38:14
  the cruel realities at Purdue's Petaluma poultry facilities.
• 38:20
  The stories of most animals who fall victim
• 38:23
  to human supremacy have been or will be
• 38:25
  lost in history, and so we must remember
• 38:28
  the few who we can.
• 38:31
  When I took Poppy, Ivy, Asher, and Azalea
• 38:34
  into my arms, I wasn't just vowing to
• 38:36
  care for them and protect them.
• 38:39
  I was also making a commitment to share
• 38:41
  their stories and, if needed, to represent them
• 38:44
  in the court of law.
• 38:46
  Of course, I wish that I was representing
• 38:48
  them in the context of Purdue being prosecuted
• 38:51
  or sued, but it is what it is.
• 38:54
  No matter what, the world needs to know
• 38:58
  what they endured, how they survived, and who
• 39:01
  they are.
• 39:02
  The world needs to remember their names, and
• 39:05
  the authorities desperately want them to be forgotten.
• 39:11
  As I stand here today, I do not
• 39:13
  know what lies ahead.
• 39:16
  I am just wrapping up as an undergraduate
• 39:18
  at UC Berkeley, and in many ways my
• 39:20
  life is just beginning, but my future feels
• 39:23
  incredibly uncertain.
• 39:25
  In a few weeks, I might be a
• 39:27
  convicted felon.
• 39:29
  I might be on house arrest.
• 39:32
  I might be in jail.
• 39:33
  I might be in jail being denied medical
• 39:36
  care that I need to survive, which is
• 39:38
  now even more concerning, as in the last
• 39:41
  couple of months my stomach has become partially
• 39:43
  paralyzed, which is why I now have a
• 39:45
  feeding tube that runs from my nose into
• 39:48
  my small intestine.
• 39:52
  I do not know what lies ahead, but
• 39:54
  there is one thing that I do know
• 39:55
  for certain, and that is that for billions
• 39:58
  of animals, their futures are set in stone
• 40:01
  long before they are ever born.
• 40:04
  They are sentenced to die before they even
• 40:07
  breathe their first breaths.
• 40:10
  So what I am might be scary, but
• 40:13
  the consequences of our inaction are much, much
• 40:17
  scarier.
• 40:19
  For the animals, the cost of allowing the
• 40:21
  world to continue as it is is simply
• 40:23
  far too great.
• 40:26
  I believe that the future of the animal
• 40:28
  rights movement depends on how we handle moments
• 40:31
  like this, and we must not hide.
• 40:35
  We must not cower in fear.
• 40:37
  We all have a part to play, and
• 40:39
  we must show Sonoma County law enforcement, Purdue,
• 40:43
  and the world that we will not be
• 40:45
  silenced.
• 40:46
  We will continue to take action for Poppy,
• 40:49
  Ivy, Asher, and Azalea, and every animal whose
• 40:53
  cries for help have gone unanswered.
• 40:57
  And if I do go to jail, if
• 40:58
  I lose this case and my freedom, please
• 41:02
  try not to be discouraged.
• 41:04
  This entire prosecution is just an industry stunt
• 41:08
  meant to scare activists and fool the public
• 41:12
  into believing that animal rescuers are dangerous criminals.
• 41:16
  I am just one person, and no matter
• 41:20
  what happens to me, hope will not be
• 41:22
  lost.
• 41:23
  Life will go on.
• 41:26
  Dogs will wrestle in the park.
• 41:28
  Bugs will crawl forth from their homes.
• 41:31
  Yeasts will splash in ponds, and birds will
• 41:33
  sing to the rising sun.
• 41:36
  But also, chickens will scream as the life
• 41:40
  is torn from their bodies.
• 41:43
  Mother pigs will slam their heads against the
• 41:45
  bars of their crates, desperate to protect their
• 41:48
  babies from the men who come to mutilate
• 41:50
  them.
• 41:51
  Cows will seize in pain as they are
• 41:53
  electrocuted by metal rods.
• 41:57
  Life will go on, but so will violence.
• 42:01
  And that is why I need all of
• 42:03
  you to promise me something.
• 42:06
  Promise me that no matter what, you will
• 42:09
  not give up.
• 42:11
  Promise me you'll take action.
• 42:15
  Promise me you'll protest.
• 42:17
  Promise me you'll rescue the victims of these
• 42:20
  violent industries.
• 42:22
  Promise me, and more importantly, promise the animals
• 42:26
  that you will fight like hell.
• 42:31
  I know that regardless of the outcome of
• 42:33
  this trial, the animal rights movement will continue
• 42:36
  forward.
• 42:37
  It is that knowledge that gives me the
• 42:39
  courage to walk into this courtroom today.
• 42:43
  It is that knowledge that gives me the
• 42:44
  strength to face whatever the outcome of this
• 42:47
  trial might be.
• 42:49
  Let's do this.
• 43:00
  Wow.
• 43:01
  What a speech.
• 43:04
  Extraordinary.
• 43:05
  I want to do a round robin.
• 43:07
  Justine Block, oh wait, hold on.
• 43:09
  We've got some more people speaking.
• 43:10
  Thank you all for being here.
• 43:12
  My name is Lauren Gazzola, and I am
• 43:14
  the Communications Director of the Animal Activist Legal
• 43:18
  Defense Project.
• 43:20
  Along with her local counsel, Kevin Little, our
• 43:24
  clinic represents Zoe Rosenberg.
• 43:27
  We appreciate the widespread interest in Ms. Rosenberg's
• 43:31
  case, and thank you for covering this important
• 43:34
  trial.
• 43:36
  The Animal Activist Legal Defense Project is a
• 43:39
  legal clinic at the University of Denver Sturm
• 43:42
  College of Law in Colorado.
• 43:44
  We do civil and criminal defense work for
• 43:48
  animal rights activists around the country.
• 43:51
  We have successfully litigated several animal rescue cases.
• 43:55
  Ms. Rosenberg is represented by Chris Carraway, a
• 43:59
  staff attorney with our project.
• 44:01
  In 2023, Mr. Carraway secured a not guilty
• 44:06
  verdict for another animal rescuer who was acquitted
• 44:09
  of theft charges for rescuing a bird from
• 44:13
  a slaughter truck in Merced, California.
• 44:15
  Our clinic has also conducted interview surveys with
• 44:19
  jurors in rescue cases, and our attorneys regularly
• 44:23
  make academic contributions to the developing law around
• 44:27
  open rescue.
• 44:28
  Currently, we also represent animal rights activist Wayne
• 44:32
  Chung in the appeal against conviction for participation
• 44:36
  in protests at Sonoma County factory farms.
• 44:40
  I encourage you to follow that case as
• 44:42
  well, as many of the issues overlap.
• 44:45
  Both cases present important legal and ethical questions.
• 44:50
  We are proud to represent Ms. Rosenberg.
• 44:53
  Today, nearly two years after her arrest, she
• 44:57
  will finally have her day in court.
• 45:00
  Now, please give your attention to Marae Holden,
• 45:03
  an attorney who has been assisting our project
• 45:06
  with the case.
• 45:14
  Good morning.
• 45:16
  Thank you all for being here today.
• 45:18
  As Lauren mentioned, my name is Marae Holden,
• 45:21
  I'm an animal rights attorney.
• 45:24
  From my perspective, the Sonoma County District Attorney's
• 45:28
  prosecution of Zoe Rosenberg is a political prosecution.
• 45:32
  It is a clear attempt to chill animal
• 45:36
  rights activism in the Bay Area and to
• 45:39
  chill the animal rights movement in general.
• 45:43
  Why else would the District Attorney elect to
• 45:46
  charge Ms. Rosenberg with a ramped up felony
• 45:49
  conspiracy charge for allegedly committing low-level misdemeanors?
• 45:55
  Charging Ms. Rosenberg with that felony increases the
• 45:58
  maximum sentence that she faces to nearly five
• 46:02
  years in jail, and it has also enabled
• 46:05
  Sonoma County to force Ms. Rosenberg to wear
• 46:09
  a GPS ankle monitor for over a year
• 46:13
  and a half prior to her trial, despite
• 46:16
  the fact that all of her charges are
• 46:19
  for non-violent crimes, and despite the fact
• 46:22
  that she has not been convicted of any
• 46:24
  crime at all.
• 46:26
  And all of this simply because Ms. Rosenberg
• 46:29
  rescued four chickens, Poppy, Ivy, Aster, and Azalea.
• 46:35
  Those chickens were sick, neglected, and suffering at
• 46:40
  Petaluma Poultry, a company that is owned by
• 46:44
  agro-giant Purdue Foods.
• 46:49
  And when an animal is being criminally mistreated
• 46:51
  and the authorities refuse to do anything about
• 46:55
  it, despite multiple reports of animal cruelty coming
• 46:59
  into law enforcement, why shouldn't common people have
• 47:04
  the legal right to rescue those animals?
• 47:07
  People have the right to rescue dogs who
• 47:10
  are trapped and suffering in hot cars when
• 47:13
  law enforcement isn't coming to help.
• 47:15
  So why should a chicken who is trapped
• 47:18
  and suffering inside of a crate be any
• 47:21
  different?
• 47:24
  I don't think any compassionate person, even someone
• 47:27
  who eats chickens, could come face to face
• 47:30
  with those four chickens, sick and suffering in
• 47:33
  their crates the way that they were, and
• 47:36
  simply ignore them and just walk away without
• 47:38
  trying to help.
• 47:41
  I think our compassion, all of us, would
• 47:45
  drive us to help those chickens.
• 47:48
  And when our compassion drives us to help
• 47:50
  someone who is in need, providing that help
• 47:53
  shouldn't be illegal.
• 47:56
  When we do something that it is our
• 47:58
  moral duty to do, including rescuing animals who
• 48:02
  need our help, those actions should be legal.
• 48:09
  And in several prior cases similar to this
• 48:13
  one, involving the open rescue of animals by
• 48:15
  activists, jurors have agreed with this.
• 48:18
  They have acquitted animal rescuers who were prosecuted
• 48:22
  for helping animals in need when nobody else
• 48:25
  would, when law enforcement wouldn't come despite all
• 48:28
  of the reports.
• 48:30
  So we hope for an acquittal in Ms.
• 48:33
  Rosenberg's case as well.
• 48:36
  Look, Ms. Rosenberg admits that she rescued the
• 48:39
  chickens.
• 48:40
  So this case is not a whodunit.
• 48:43
  It's a why-dunit.
• 48:45
  The key question here is why Ms. Rosenberg
• 48:48
  rescued these chickens, why she did what she
• 48:51
  did.
• 48:53
  And when Ms. Rosenberg's jury hears why she
• 48:55
  did it, we believe that they will understand
• 48:58
  that this rescue was not a crime, because
• 49:02
  compassion is not a crime.
• 49:04
  Thank you.
• 49:09
  Wow.
• 49:10
  Wow.
• 49:12
  Let's keep hearing what's going on.
• 49:15
  Thank you so much to Zoe and Maree
• 49:17
  for speaking.
• 49:18
  And we are going to continue on.
• 49:21
  They are, Zoe and the legal team are
• 49:22
  going to get heading into court first to
• 49:24
  make sure that they're there on time.
• 49:26
  We'll get some instructions before we head into
• 49:29
  court, but first I want to move this
• 49:31
  podium and get a group photo and group
• 49:34
  video without it in the way of all
• 49:36
  the supporters who are gathered here today to
• 49:38
  support Zoe and the right to rescue.
• 49:42
  And it looks like there's media there, which
• 49:45
  is good because, you know, the reason we
• 49:48
  started on Shane TV was because the media
• 49:50
  wasn't covering these stories, or at least not
• 49:53
  covering them fairly, but it looks like there
• 49:55
  is some media coverage there.
• 49:57
  I think every news organization in America and
• 50:01
  the world should be there, but we are
• 50:05
  the only ones live.
• 50:07
  You saw it.
• 50:08
  I want to do a round robin while,
• 50:10
  and Johnny Morrow's done a great job.
• 50:12
  Keep going, Johnny.
• 50:13
  We're going to show your video and then
• 50:14
  get reaction from folks.
• 50:17
  Let's start with Ellen Dent.
• 50:19
  What's your reaction to what you saw and
• 50:23
  just heard?
• 50:24
  I am just completely, you know, taken aback
• 50:28
  and I'm inspired by Zoe's bravery.
• 50:32
  I had the extreme pleasure of meeting her
• 50:35
  at AVA last year at the vegan summit
• 50:42
  that they have every year in either D
• 50:45
  .C. or L.A. just to, you know,
• 50:47
  Animal Vegan Advocacy Summit, just so everybody knows
• 50:50
  what that is, but I had the extreme
• 50:52
  pleasure of meeting her there.
• 50:53
  She had the ankle monitor on.
• 50:55
  She took it in complete stride.
• 50:58
  I thanked her for all that she was
• 50:59
  doing.
• 51:00
  She said that this was her duty to
• 51:02
  do this, you know, for these chickens, and,
• 51:05
  you know, I just am completely, like, you
• 51:09
  know, just emotional hearing her speak, knowing that
• 51:12
  she is actually not just risking her freedom
• 51:15
  but her life for saving, you know, these
• 51:19
  chickens, you know, Poppy, Ivy, Aster, and Azalea
• 51:23
  are their names.
• 51:24
  They are individuals.
• 51:26
  Chickens do have personalities, as Zoe has explained.
• 51:29
  I have met chickens with different personalities as
• 51:32
  well at sanctuaries.
• 51:34
  Once these chickens are out of these situations,
• 51:36
  you really get to know them, and their
• 51:39
  lives are just as important as ours, and
• 51:42
  people need to know that, that they are
• 51:43
  individuals.
• 51:44
  They do dream.
• 51:45
  They do have their own, you know, likes
• 51:48
  and dislikes.
• 51:49
  Some of them even hug people.
• 51:50
  They'll come and crawl into your lap.
• 51:53
  There's nothing more heartbreaking than having a chicken
• 51:55
  that's been saved off of these trucks come
• 51:58
  and crawl in your lap, and you realize
• 52:01
  just how twisted our society is to think
• 52:06
  that this is even acceptable to do to
• 52:08
  them.
• 52:08
  Thank you, Ellen.
• 52:09
  Let's do a round-robin with the attorneys.
• 52:12
  Let's start with Shako.
• 52:13
  Shako, if the jury could hear that, but
• 52:17
  that's the big if, will the jury hear
• 52:21
  any of that?
• 52:22
  And you can unmute, sir.
• 52:26
  Unmute.
• 52:32
  Go ahead.
• 52:34
  Yeah, I mean, it's certainly powerful, especially hearing
• 52:36
  that from Zoe.
• 52:37
  Of course, the health issue is underscoring the
• 52:39
  cruelty of the prosecution itself.
• 52:41
  Yeah, the jury can hear that, and that's
• 52:43
  what we're going to be arguing in court
• 52:44
  is getting those motions and what kind of
• 52:46
  jury instructions the jury can get.
• 52:48
  What can they get on the stake of
• 52:50
  law?
• 52:52
  How are they going to instruct the jury
• 52:54
  to look at the different issues?
• 52:56
  So I think it's going to be important,
• 52:57
  those jury instructions, and certainly how her attorneys
• 53:01
  can convey to the jury her position.
• 53:03
  I think it might be very important for
• 53:05
  her to testify.
• 53:06
  I think hearing from her directly would be
• 53:07
  important.
• 53:08
  Again, it's not a whodunit, but a whydunit,
• 53:10
  so I think her testifying would really be
• 53:11
  helpful to hopefully get these charges acquitted.
• 53:16
  Justine, it was almost as if we heard
• 53:18
  the opening statement, and everybody settle down.
• 53:21
  Thank you, my dears.
• 53:24
  It was almost like we heard the opening
• 53:27
  statements.
• 53:29
  Really brilliant, actually.
• 53:32
  It's good to see Zoe in capable, very
• 53:36
  articulate hands with her legal defense team.
• 53:40
  They know what they're doing.
• 53:42
  Compassion should not be a crime.
• 53:45
  I hope they're successful in getting in the
• 53:49
  video footage that we saw as evidence so
• 53:53
  that the jury can see Zoe's intent in
• 53:56
  helping the injured, sick, suffering chickens.
• 54:01
  You can see in the video, she pulled
• 54:04
  out each bin.
• 54:05
  She didn't just grab chickens and run off.
• 54:07
  She was checking to see the state of
• 54:12
  the chickens, and she removed and rescued the
• 54:15
  ones that were very sick.
• 54:19
  Let's just ask about the idea that the
• 54:23
  defense is putting out the video of the
• 54:27
  incident that resulted in the charges.
• 54:30
  That's an upside-down world.
• 54:31
  Explain that a little, Justine, and speak up.
• 54:34
  Thank you.
• 54:38
  Thankfully, the judge didn't allow the gag order
• 54:43
  so that she's allowed to put this out
• 54:45
  in the public realm.
• 54:50
  Generally, people want to believe that the farm
• 54:54
  animals are treated humanely.
• 54:57
  You saw the statement.
• 54:59
  You read the statement earlier that was issued
• 55:01
  by Purdue.
• 55:03
  You can see that the video counters what
• 55:08
  we want to believe as the humane treatment
• 55:12
  of the chickens and other animals at farms.
• 55:17
  It's difficult to watch.
• 55:20
  I think that it's good that it's out
• 55:23
  there.
• 55:24
  I did want to also say, he is
• 55:25
  so brave to risk not only her liberty,
• 55:32
  but her health.
• 55:34
  I want to go to Renee King Sonnen
• 55:38
  because, wow, that speech.
• 55:42
  We started today saying, be part of history,
• 55:45
  share out.
• 55:46
  I urge everybody, share out, comment.
• 55:49
  I think that speech that Zoe gave, oh
• 55:53
  my gosh, if she could have given that
• 55:55
  speech to the jury, but the question is,
• 55:59
  will she be allowed to give that speech?
• 56:02
  What was your reaction to her speech, Renee?
• 56:05
  Gosh, I was listening.
• 56:08
  One of the quotes that she said is,
• 56:10
  life will go on, but so will the
• 56:13
  violence.
• 56:13
  That just sent shivers down my spine because
• 56:17
  that is exactly what's going on, is life
• 56:20
  and violence at the same time.
• 56:24
  The fact that we are allowing that kind
• 56:27
  of violence on a mass in mass, like
• 56:31
  she said, they're confined, they're neglected, they're boiled,
• 56:35
  maimed in mass, I think is what she
• 56:38
  said.
• 56:39
  When you get that in perspective, that these
• 56:43
  animals are being confined, boiled, neglected, maimed in
• 56:49
  mass.
• 56:49
  I remember when Ryuji and I were at
• 56:52
  a big factory farm a few years ago,
• 56:57
  and we rescued Omen from one of those
• 57:00
  big factory farms.
• 57:01
  I saw all of those cages lined up
• 57:05
  in that trailer, just thousands of chickens crammed
• 57:08
  in there.
• 57:09
  We were illegally inside of this factory.
• 57:14
  We were both crawling around underneath the big
• 57:16
  trailer because there was one lone chicken that
• 57:20
  had somehow escaped, one lone chicken out of
• 57:22
  those thousands.
• 57:24
  We confiscated her.
• 57:26
  Her name was Omen.
• 57:28
  We brought her to Rowdy Girl Sanctuary from
• 57:30
  Arkansas.
• 57:32
  She was someone, and we told her story
• 57:35
  around the world because she made such a
• 57:37
  difference in our lives.
• 57:39
  We have chickens at Rowdy Girl that come
• 57:43
  from all sorts of neglect, and we give
• 57:46
  them the best of care.
• 57:48
  There is no reason why these chickens and
• 57:51
  the chickens that are neglected and confined and
• 57:54
  maimed and boiled should not be getting the
• 57:57
  same standard of care.
• 57:59
  We should have a global standard of care
• 58:03
  for all animals.
• 58:05
  We should not be distinguishing a food animal
• 58:08
  from a regular animal because who is to
• 58:11
  say that those animals are food except the
• 58:15
  people and the powers that be that want
• 58:17
  to use their bodies for commodities for profit.
• 58:21
  How horrible of a system that we have.
• 58:24
  I want to again invite any company, Purdue,
• 58:28
  Petaluma Poultry, on anytime.
• 58:31
  We would love to dialogue with you.
• 58:34
  You've issued a statement in the past that
• 58:37
  you're a leader in animal welfare, dedicated to
• 58:39
  the highest standards of animal care, give our
• 58:41
  birds space to roam, access to the outdoors,
• 58:43
  enrichments that support natural behavior, and a healthy
• 58:46
  balanced diet with no antibiotics ever.
• 58:49
  You've said that DXC is an extreme group
• 58:52
  with the ultimate goal of ending animal agriculture
• 58:54
  altogether and imposing a radical agenda that would
• 58:57
  threaten the livelihoods of Sonoma County farmers and
• 59:00
  the food security of millions of people.
• 59:02
  So we invite you on anytime, but let
• 59:06
  me say this.
• 59:10
  Really, I think it boils down to animal
• 59:12
  agriculture is on trial because there is no
• 59:16
  nice genteel way to produce, as a society,
• 59:22
  75 billion chickens.
• 59:24
  This is the number of land animals killed
• 59:27
  for meat in 2022, over 75 billion chickens.
• 59:32
  If you see this, the vast majority of
• 59:34
  animals eaten are chickens.
• 59:36
  So essentially this is an epic battle, Christina
• 59:41
  Ku, over animal agriculture.
• 59:44
  How much do consumers bear responsibility?
• 59:48
  All of this is online and both sides
• 59:53
  are online.
• 59:54
  As we said, you can see everything that
• 59:58
  Purdue has to say about its corporate animal
• 1:00:00
  responsibility online.
• 1:00:02
  You can also go to purdueabuse.com and
• 1:00:07
  read their eight-page report.
• 1:00:08
  Those are both sides of the story.
• 1:00:10
  Your thoughts, Christina?
• 1:00:12
  I was actually part of a protest this
• 1:00:16
  weekend regarding these exact issues.
• 1:00:20
  I just want to leave some hopeful messages
• 1:00:23
  to everyone watching.
• 1:00:25
  I approached a security person who was monitoring
• 1:00:29
  the protest.
• 1:00:30
  The security person said, I've watched your videos
• 1:00:34
  from DXC and you have a right to
• 1:00:38
  be here.
• 1:00:39
  There are also folks around the protest who
• 1:00:43
  came by and they were shocked and appalled
• 1:00:46
  that the evidence that DXC has gathered is
• 1:00:50
  contrary to what they were misled as a
• 1:00:53
  consumer at certain stores and the packaging and
• 1:00:57
  what you showed up in your program, how
• 1:00:59
  the chickens are raised.
• 1:01:00
  So definitely I think the consumers will start
• 1:01:03
  to make that connection.
• 1:01:05
  What they're being told is not what some
• 1:01:07
  of the evidence that DXC shows.
• 1:01:10
  Furthermore, the security folks around the protest said,
• 1:01:15
  we don't like certain poultry companies.
• 1:01:19
  Are there ones that we should buy from?
• 1:01:22
  I think the response to that was, we
• 1:01:25
  don't support eating any sentient living being.
• 1:01:29
  So that train of thought really has to
• 1:01:32
  start to evolve and change.
• 1:01:34
  It's not that I'll just eat someone else,
• 1:01:36
  but the fact that they get educated on
• 1:01:39
  what better and healthier plant-based foods that
• 1:01:43
  they can eat instead.
• 1:01:44
  So that's a switch of mind completely.
• 1:01:48
  And I think for Zoe's speech, she's an
• 1:01:53
  incredible orator.
• 1:01:55
  And there's something that happens in court where
• 1:01:57
  once you, if you ring the bell, you
• 1:02:00
  cannot unring it.
• 1:02:01
  Meaning when she is, if she's up there
• 1:02:03
  as a witness, she answers questions.
• 1:02:05
  And I believe that she will find a
• 1:02:07
  way to strategize and answer the best way
• 1:02:09
  she can.
• 1:02:10
  And including some aspects of her opening remarks
• 1:02:14
  here and her responses.
• 1:02:16
  So I feel she can do that and
• 1:02:17
  she'll be very effective, I hope.
• 1:02:20
  Excellent points.
• 1:02:20
  You're raising the issue that the death charge
• 1:02:23
  was dropped.
• 1:02:25
  Okay.
• 1:02:25
  So getting back to the charges, if you're
• 1:02:27
  just joining us, Zoe Rosenberg faces about five
• 1:02:30
  years in prison, one count felony conspiracy, three
• 1:02:33
  misdemeanors, including trespass and vehicle tampering, but they
• 1:02:37
  dropped the death charge and the defense says,
• 1:02:40
  well, they did that so that to limit
• 1:02:43
  the discussion of the condition of the animals,
• 1:02:47
  which Zoe maintains was very, very sick, that
• 1:02:50
  they were the four chickens she rescued was
• 1:02:53
  very sick, were very sick.
• 1:02:55
  And also to limit the footage, because a
• 1:02:59
  picture tells a thousand words.
• 1:03:01
  So you can talk and talk and talk
• 1:03:02
  and talk about animal welfare standards, but some
• 1:03:05
  of the footage that DXC has released, which
• 1:03:07
  they say comes from inside these very farms
• 1:03:11
  that are associated with the case for which
• 1:03:13
  she is being charged, show animals on the
• 1:03:16
  ground, unable to turn around.
• 1:03:17
  We've shown it before and we can show
• 1:03:20
  it again.
• 1:03:21
  But I want to go to Tiffany Brunelli.
• 1:03:25
  You're a former, you are a retired law
• 1:03:29
  enforcement investigator who now works with DXC.
• 1:03:31
  You were actually there when Zoe was arrested,
• 1:03:35
  which was months after the June 2023 event
• 1:03:40
  where she went into the factory farm.
• 1:03:42
  Tell us about that.
• 1:03:44
  Yes, it was right after Wayne Chung's sentencing
• 1:03:50
  hearing and she had spoke at the sentencing
• 1:03:52
  hearing and she talked about this evidence that
• 1:03:55
  she had in this folder.
• 1:03:56
  And we had a large march with many
• 1:03:59
  of the people that were at the news
• 1:04:00
  conference over to the sheriff's office.
• 1:04:04
  And just out of the blue, it just
• 1:04:05
  seemed like out of nowhere, these officers descended
• 1:04:10
  on everyone and arrested Zoe.
• 1:04:14
  And it was just so shocking because just
• 1:04:16
  peacefully marching and then they arrested two of
• 1:04:20
  the other animal rescuers or animal investigators.
• 1:04:25
  And it was just completely, it seemed like
• 1:04:29
  they chose that specific time to arrest them
• 1:04:32
  to send out a message.
• 1:04:35
  There were so many different ways they could
• 1:04:37
  have or different times they could have arrested.
• 1:04:39
  And my understanding was Zoe was actually carrying
• 1:04:41
  evidence or what she says is evidence of
• 1:04:44
  animal cruelty to hand into the sheriff's department.
• 1:04:47
  And when they first said Zoe Rosenberg, she
• 1:04:50
  thought, and it was possibly this gentleman here,
• 1:04:53
  this law enforcement officer, she thought he was
• 1:04:55
  coming to her to get the information.
• 1:04:58
  She was still believing that they might've asked
• 1:05:02
  for information, but it turns out they were
• 1:05:05
  calling her name in order to arrest her.
• 1:05:10
  Yes, it was shocking.
• 1:05:12
  She said that too.
• 1:05:12
  She thought, finally, they're taking our allegations seriously.
• 1:05:16
  They're coming out here to meet me.
• 1:05:17
  We won't even have to go inside.
• 1:05:19
  I'll just hand over the information now.
• 1:05:21
  And suddenly she's in handcuffs.
• 1:05:23
  It was just unbelievable.
• 1:05:26
  Just didn't even feel real.
• 1:05:28
  So I want to ask some of the
• 1:05:29
  attorneys here, Shaka, what is your thought about
• 1:05:33
  the fact that she was originally charged with
• 1:05:36
  something like seven felonies and they've kept reducing
• 1:05:40
  the charges over time.
• 1:05:42
  At first she was facing 20 years in
• 1:05:45
  prison if convicted on all counts.
• 1:05:47
  Remember, DXC says even if these four chickens
• 1:05:50
  were healthy, they'd be worth approximately $24.
• 1:05:54
  If you shoplifted four packages of chicken from
• 1:05:58
  a supermarket, essentially you'd be stealing something worth
• 1:06:01
  $24.
• 1:06:02
  But they say they were not even worth
• 1:06:04
  that amount because they were very ill.
• 1:06:06
  So they had zero value.
• 1:06:08
  And perhaps that's one reason that they dropped
• 1:06:11
  the theft charge.
• 1:06:13
  But DXC says the reason is that they
• 1:06:16
  didn't want to open the door to evidence
• 1:06:19
  of animal cruelty, Shaka.
• 1:06:27
  Go ahead.
• 1:06:31
  I think they definitely dropped the theft charge
• 1:06:34
  as a result because they didn't want to
• 1:06:37
  have that go to the jury.
• 1:06:39
  They didn't want to see the jury have
• 1:06:41
  them argue over whether or not the value
• 1:06:44
  was zero or 24 versus what condition were
• 1:06:47
  the chickens in.
• 1:06:48
  Because now you get to see the condition
• 1:06:50
  of the chickens at why there was no
• 1:06:52
  value.
• 1:06:53
  I think DXC even said that the rates
• 1:06:55
  of salmonella at this particular chicken farm was
• 1:06:59
  even higher than the ones typical in the
• 1:07:02
  country.
• 1:07:03
  So I think they really want to keep
• 1:07:04
  out that evidence, also the evidence of them
• 1:07:06
  squabbling over such a little amount and overcharging
• 1:07:09
  Zoe.
• 1:07:10
  And so I think in that sense, you
• 1:07:12
  see the prosecution really trying to limit the
• 1:07:14
  evidence that comes in here.
• 1:07:16
  Yeah.
• 1:07:17
  And I'm not a scientist, I can't independently
• 1:07:20
  confirm any of that.
• 1:07:21
  This is the stuff that's going to be
• 1:07:23
  discussed at trial.
• 1:07:24
  But my question to, well, we've got the
• 1:07:28
  other attorney here and you can jump in
• 1:07:30
  too, Shaka, is how far will she be
• 1:07:33
  able to go?
• 1:07:34
  Zoe Rosenberg gave an impassioned speech that was
• 1:07:38
  truly brilliant.
• 1:07:39
  I mean, I think it was historic, but
• 1:07:42
  will she be able to give that speech
• 1:07:45
  to the jury?
• 1:07:46
  How will that work?
• 1:07:47
  Will there be objection, Your Honor, when she
• 1:07:49
  starts saying, well, the chickens that I picked
• 1:07:52
  up and took, they were missing this, they
• 1:07:54
  had this, will they stop her at that
• 1:07:57
  moment?
• 1:07:59
  Shaka, you want to take that one again?
• 1:08:03
  Yeah.
• 1:08:04
  So in terms of Zoe getting on the
• 1:08:06
  stand and being able to actually say what
• 1:08:08
  she said that we saw during the press
• 1:08:09
  conference, that's going to be up to how
• 1:08:12
  her attorneys are able to position her on
• 1:08:14
  the stand, the questions that they're able to
• 1:08:17
  ask of her, and of course, what the
• 1:08:20
  prosecution might open up on redirect.
• 1:08:24
  So it's going to depend on what strategy
• 1:08:27
  they're going to use and how she's able
• 1:08:28
  to convey that to the jury.
• 1:08:30
  Hopefully we're going to see motions in limine.
• 1:08:32
  Hopefully they won't limit any of that testimony.
• 1:08:34
  And so we'll find out today kind of
• 1:08:36
  what jury instructions and what limitations of that
• 1:08:39
  testimony there might be.
• 1:08:42
  Go ahead, Christina.
• 1:08:44
  Yeah.
• 1:08:44
  And I just want to add that.
• 1:08:45
  I mean, obviously, right, there are a lot
• 1:08:47
  of strategies between Zoe and her attorneys and
• 1:08:50
  how to craft the questions and where it
• 1:08:53
  may go.
• 1:08:53
  And like the concept of where I've seen
• 1:08:56
  it in courtrooms where witnesses will say something
• 1:09:00
  and, oh, you weren't supposed to say that.
• 1:09:02
  That was outside the realm of the question.
• 1:09:05
  And they will strike that from the record.
• 1:09:09
  But that concept of once you ring a
• 1:09:12
  bell and people have heard it, a jury
• 1:09:14
  heard that, they're instructed to not remember it.
• 1:09:19
  And that is something that humans sometimes have
• 1:09:22
  a hard time doing.
• 1:09:23
  So that could happen.
• 1:09:25
  Well, we've had an extraordinary day.
• 1:09:27
  We're going to wrap up our coverage.
• 1:09:29
  But I want to go back out to
• 1:09:31
  Johnny and find out what's happening there on
• 1:09:34
  the scene.
• 1:09:34
  I'm going to unmute you, Johnny.
• 1:09:35
  Bring us up to date.
• 1:09:37
  It's winding down.
• 1:09:39
  A lot of the observers have slowly walked
• 1:09:42
  away and the rest of the DXC activists
• 1:09:46
  from around the country have ventured off inside
• 1:09:48
  of the courthouse to just kind of see
• 1:09:51
  what the parameters are of the case.
• 1:09:53
  Lots of optimism, lots of love being shared
• 1:09:56
  from activists around the country, like I said,
• 1:10:00
  and people that are just coming up.
• 1:10:02
  And lots of curiosity from the window above.
• 1:10:06
  There seems to be a waiting area up
• 1:10:08
  on top where defendants and other cases in
• 1:10:12
  the courthouse are kind of waiting.
• 1:10:14
  So you can see them peering through the
• 1:10:15
  window down and looking to see what the
• 1:10:18
  fiasco is.
• 1:10:20
  And it's quite a unique experience.
• 1:10:23
  I don't think I've ever been part of
• 1:10:25
  such a...
• 1:10:27
  How much news media was there?
• 1:10:33
  Other than myself, I saw four other big
• 1:10:36
  cameras.
• 1:10:37
  I didn't really pay attention to to which
• 1:10:40
  media outlets, but I was definitely just making
• 1:10:43
  sure that my camera is steady and that
• 1:10:45
  I was trying to absorb all the elements
• 1:10:46
  around me.
• 1:10:46
  Yeah, but you saw four other media outlets
• 1:10:49
  with big cameras.
• 1:10:50
  Correct.
• 1:10:50
  So that would probably be from the local
• 1:10:53
  news media there, which I think, frankly, is
• 1:10:56
  really good because sometimes there's no media coverage.
• 1:11:00
  Correct.
• 1:11:01
  So, Renee, what's your thought on that, that
• 1:11:05
  there were four big cameras, as Johnny would
• 1:11:09
  say?
• 1:11:10
  Well, I mean, my God, the cameras are...
• 1:11:16
  They're everywhere and they are trying to display
• 1:11:20
  that this is something that is...
• 1:11:24
  They're trying to magnify this case in a
• 1:11:29
  way that is like they're stealing...
• 1:11:33
  What's going on?
• 1:11:34
  They took away the theft charge.
• 1:11:35
  They took away the theft charge and I
• 1:11:37
  was just sitting here thinking, what is that?
• 1:11:39
  What is really being stolen here?
• 1:11:41
  It's not really a $24 amount of birds.
• 1:11:45
  It's our right as a society to know
• 1:11:49
  the truth.
• 1:11:50
  They are stealing our right to know the
• 1:11:52
  truth.
• 1:11:53
  They're stealing our right to know what's really
• 1:11:56
  going on behind secret doors of total cruelty.
• 1:12:02
  And they are shining spotlights out there.
• 1:12:07
  It's all a big smoke screen, these cameras.
• 1:12:10
  It's a big smoke screen against what's really
• 1:12:13
  happening.
• 1:12:14
  And they are stealing the society's rights to
• 1:12:18
  really know the truth of what's really going
• 1:12:20
  on behind those closed doors.
• 1:12:21
  Well, having been in media for many years
• 1:12:24
  at some of the biggest news operations, the
• 1:12:27
  fact that they're there, let's give them kudos
• 1:12:29
  for covering it.
• 1:12:30
  Because again, the reason I founded Unchained TV,
• 1:12:34
  which is a nonprofit news network covering animal
• 1:12:37
  rights, is because I saw that all these
• 1:12:41
  things weren't getting covered.
• 1:12:42
  Or a little blip, or I attended a
• 1:12:46
  demonstration where there were maybe 10,000 people
• 1:12:49
  and they showed two people crossing the street
• 1:12:50
  and they said, these people stop traffic.
• 1:12:53
  No discussion.
• 1:12:54
  So that's when I said, you know what?
• 1:12:56
  We got to cover this.
• 1:12:58
  And that's why we're covering it now.
• 1:13:00
  But the fact that there were four big
• 1:13:02
  cameras, which means probably the local news stations,
• 1:13:05
  I always have hope.
• 1:13:06
  I always have optimism.
• 1:13:08
  I hope they're covering it in the direction
• 1:13:11
  of Zoey Rosenberg, and they're not covering it
• 1:13:14
  in favor of the torture chambers.
• 1:13:18
  And Jane, I just want to add that
• 1:13:21
  I've been part of DXC as well.
• 1:13:24
  And they have a really robust media press
• 1:13:28
  conference unit within DXC, where folks write really,
• 1:13:32
  really well written stuff for the press, press
• 1:13:35
  releases.
• 1:13:36
  And I'm very proud of them.
• 1:13:38
  They have that system down really well, and
• 1:13:40
  I support them.
• 1:13:41
  And I think this is the, you're seeing
• 1:13:43
  the fruit of their work.
• 1:13:45
  Yeah.
• 1:13:46
  And the New York Times just did a
• 1:13:49
  whole big, long story on this trial.
• 1:13:53
  I would say very objectively, it was not
• 1:13:56
  very favorable.
• 1:13:57
  In fact, they never showed any pictures of
• 1:13:59
  chickens in the main story.
• 1:14:02
  They linked.
• 1:14:03
  So you had to click on the links
• 1:14:05
  to see, but they showed people, cows roaming
• 1:14:09
  and people milking cows gently.
• 1:14:12
  To me, it was an unfair piece.
• 1:14:14
  I commented and I said, why don't you,
• 1:14:17
  how can you do a story about somebody
• 1:14:18
  being put on trial for rescuing four chickens
• 1:14:22
  from a slaughter truck and not show chickens?
• 1:14:26
  And they did publish that comment.
• 1:14:27
  And by the way, the reason I call
• 1:14:29
  this the chicken rescue trial, if you look
• 1:14:31
  at the definition of rescue, it says to
• 1:14:34
  save someone from a dangerous or distressing situation.
• 1:14:39
  So either way, it's a rescue because they
• 1:14:42
  weren't going out.
• 1:14:43
  Those four chickens were not going to be
• 1:14:45
  waltzing out of that location alive.
• 1:14:48
  The question is, and the jury can decide,
• 1:14:50
  was this a legal action or an illegal
• 1:14:53
  action?
• 1:14:54
  And before we wrap up, I want to
• 1:14:56
  get into mistake of law.
• 1:14:58
  As you heard from the news conference and
• 1:15:00
  for others commenting, they're not going to be
• 1:15:02
  allowed the judge.
• 1:15:04
  First of all, kudos to the judge for
• 1:15:05
  not putting a gag order because there have
• 1:15:07
  been a gag order in some of these
• 1:15:08
  past cases.
• 1:15:10
  So if there was a gag order, Zoe
• 1:15:13
  wouldn't have been able to give that incredible
• 1:15:15
  speech that she gave outside court.
• 1:15:17
  So kudos to the judge for doing that.
• 1:15:20
  But on the other side, he said the
• 1:15:22
  necessity defense cannot come in and the necessity
• 1:15:26
  defense.
• 1:15:26
  Well, I'll let one of the lawyers explain
• 1:15:28
  it.
• 1:15:28
  Shaka, what is the necessity defense?
• 1:15:32
  And you can unmute.
• 1:15:40
  Defense.
• 1:15:41
  Yeah.
• 1:15:42
  So the necessity defense, which is a defense
• 1:15:45
  that basically says you can commit an illegal
• 1:15:47
  act if you're going to stop a greater
• 1:15:49
  harm, a greater evil.
• 1:15:52
  Unfortunately, that's only been applied to human situations.
• 1:15:56
  Kristen Stilt, I think I mentioned earlier, a
• 1:15:58
  Harvard Law professor, had actually written an amicus
• 1:16:00
  trying to apply that standard to our animal
• 1:16:04
  friends.
• 1:16:05
  And unfortunately, that was rejected by this judge.
• 1:16:07
  So they're going to have to rely on
• 1:16:08
  mistake of law.
• 1:16:09
  However, mistake of law has typically not been
• 1:16:12
  used to completely absolve anyone of criminal or
• 1:16:15
  even civil liability, really.
• 1:16:17
  So that's going to be the issue here
• 1:16:19
  is to what degree will mistake of law
• 1:16:22
  kind of maybe reduce the charges or maybe
• 1:16:25
  make sentencing a little bit different?
• 1:16:27
  But mistake of law typically has not been
• 1:16:29
  used because we normally say making a mistake
• 1:16:31
  of the law is no excuse for the
• 1:16:33
  law.
• 1:16:33
  So judges typically follow that.
• 1:16:35
  So mistake of law is going to be
• 1:16:36
  a real nuanced way for them that they're
• 1:16:38
  going to have to maneuver here.
• 1:16:40
  Well, let me say this.
• 1:16:42
  There have been similar cases that have resulted
• 1:16:46
  in acquittal.
• 1:16:47
  And I think this is very important to
• 1:16:49
  point out.
• 1:16:50
  We had the case of the Baywatch actress,
• 1:16:55
  Alexandra Paul, and her associate, Alicia Santurio.
• 1:17:00
  And they did a very similar thing a
• 1:17:03
  few years ago.
• 1:17:04
  This truck, I believe, was on public property,
• 1:17:07
  but I'm not sure.
• 1:17:07
  Yes, I think it was.
• 1:17:09
  But there you see, there's Alexandra Paul, former
• 1:17:12
  Baywatch star and animal activist, and her associate
• 1:17:16
  there, also with DXC, Alicia Santurio.
• 1:17:21
  And this was footage, again, the defense allowed
• 1:17:25
  this footage to come out.
• 1:17:26
  Half the time in these cases in general,
• 1:17:29
  nobody even knows that anything's been done until
• 1:17:31
  DXC releases the footage.
• 1:17:33
  And sometimes they live stream it.
• 1:17:35
  And she was able to testify.
• 1:17:38
  And I believe that's one of the reasons
• 1:17:40
  why she was acquitted.
• 1:17:42
  Both of them were acquitted.
• 1:17:43
  We also choose these animals because they tell
• 1:17:45
  best the story of what's going on behind
• 1:17:48
  these closed doors.
• 1:17:50
  And we document it and we share it
• 1:17:53
  with the world because nobody else is showing
• 1:17:56
  people what's going on.
• 1:17:58
  The only reason people know what's going on
• 1:18:00
  behind these closed doors is because of animal
• 1:18:03
  investigators.
• 1:18:05
  And she was acquitted.
• 1:18:07
  But there are those who say, guess what?
• 1:18:09
  The prosecution has learned from that acquittal and
• 1:18:12
  is using new strategies, Ellen Dent, essentially eliminating
• 1:18:17
  the theft charge to try to limit the
• 1:18:20
  kind of evidence that can come in so
• 1:18:22
  that the trial does not become a debate
• 1:18:24
  about conditions inside the slaughterhouse or the farms
• 1:18:28
  that supply chickens to the slaughterhouse or the
• 1:18:31
  conditions on the truck riding to the slaughterhouse.
• 1:18:34
  It's trying to limit and eliminate that evidence.
• 1:18:40
  What are your thoughts, Ellen?
• 1:18:42
  Well, I believe by doing that, they're concealing
• 1:18:45
  the truth from the public, as we've said
• 1:18:48
  before.
• 1:18:49
  I mean, you can see the conditions that
• 1:18:52
  these chickens were in.
• 1:18:53
  The public deserves to see that.
• 1:18:55
  The jury deserves to see that so that
• 1:18:58
  they can make a fair decision about the
• 1:19:00
  actions of Zoe that day and the need
• 1:19:04
  for those chickens to have been rescued.
• 1:19:06
  I mean, you can see the photos here
• 1:19:08
  that you just showed.
• 1:19:10
  These chickens are in dire conditions.
• 1:19:14
  It really hurts my heart just to see
• 1:19:16
  them going through that.
• 1:19:18
  And I feel that the majority of the
• 1:19:20
  public would agree with that.
• 1:19:22
  And they would agree that what Zoe did
• 1:19:24
  was right.
• 1:19:25
  And that there should be a right to
• 1:19:27
  rescue these innocent creatures who have done nothing
• 1:19:33
  to us and yet are met with extreme
• 1:19:35
  violence.
• 1:19:37
  So, yeah.
• 1:19:38
  Here's an interesting question somebody's asking on social.
• 1:19:41
  How has the jury selected meat eaters only?
• 1:19:44
  It's kind of funny, but in a way,
• 1:19:47
  it's serious because this is a culture war.
• 1:19:51
  Let's call it what it is.
• 1:19:54
  Tiffany Brunelli, former law enforcement investigator, now a
• 1:19:59
  DXC supporter.
• 1:20:01
  It's a culture war.
• 1:20:02
  I mean, people say, I eat chicken.
• 1:20:04
  They don't even say, I eat chickens.
• 1:20:07
  They say, I eat chicken.
• 1:20:09
  In their minds, it's a thing.
• 1:20:12
  It's a dish.
• 1:20:13
  It's not an individual.
• 1:20:15
  They're not individuals.
• 1:20:17
  So, how much blame does the public—how much
• 1:20:23
  responsibility, let me put it that way, does
• 1:20:25
  the public have?
• 1:20:27
  Well, Jane, thank you for being maybe the
• 1:20:31
  only media that's streaming this live.
• 1:20:34
  And I feel so inspired after Zoe's speech
• 1:20:39
  that if we could get this out to
• 1:20:41
  the mainstream media, if national news was covering
• 1:20:44
  it, and folks could hear about this, and
• 1:20:46
  they would say, what's going on with the
• 1:20:49
  chicken or the chickens that I'm buying?
• 1:20:52
  And I have to admit, a few years
• 1:20:54
  ago, I was one of those shoppers who
• 1:20:57
  saw the little hen on the egg carton
• 1:20:59
  out in the sun in this idyllic field,
• 1:21:02
  and I would pay the few extra dollars.
• 1:21:04
  So, I think if we could really get
• 1:21:06
  this out, get her beautiful speech out to
• 1:21:09
  the public, and people really start going—because people
• 1:21:13
  want to do the right thing.
• 1:21:14
  They want to pay the extra dollars for
• 1:21:16
  the so-called humane chickens and eggs.
• 1:21:20
  So, I'm going to share her speech out
• 1:21:22
  today.
• 1:21:23
  If we can all share this out today,
• 1:21:25
  if this could get out, I think people,
• 1:21:28
  the general public, would really be curious.
• 1:21:30
  What's really going on with what we're eating
• 1:21:32
  on our plates?
• 1:21:34
  Well, sometimes I think that people believe what
• 1:21:37
  they want to believe.
• 1:21:38
  It's really a question.
• 1:21:40
  In their statement, and I think there's an
• 1:21:46
  agreement here, the corporation says, DXC is an
• 1:21:52
  extreme group with the ultimate goal of ending
• 1:21:54
  animal agriculture altogether.
• 1:21:58
  I mean, I think that we could agree
• 1:22:00
  that that is their goal, ending animal agriculture
• 1:22:04
  altogether.
• 1:22:04
  Renee, you're a former cattle rancher turned vegan
• 1:22:07
  farm sanctuary owner.
• 1:22:10
  You're the perfect person to answer that one.
• 1:22:12
  I definitely want to end animal agriculture.
• 1:22:15
  When I first went vegan on a cattle
• 1:22:16
  ranch back in 2014, I was terrified to
• 1:22:20
  say that out loud, but I'm not anymore.
• 1:22:23
  That is my main mission, and one of
• 1:22:26
  the reasons I really think this is—to have
• 1:22:30
  Zoe's speech streaming internationally, or even nationally, or
• 1:22:34
  even statewide, it is going to compromise all
• 1:22:39
  the billions in subsidies that all the governments
• 1:22:42
  pay into all these organizations, these chicken farms,
• 1:22:46
  and other types of farms, so-called farms.
• 1:22:50
  All the banks and investors, the major banks
• 1:22:53
  that invest in all of these so-called
• 1:22:56
  farms, all of the retail food services, the
• 1:22:58
  big ones, you know, I mean, can I
• 1:23:00
  say it out loud, like the big Costco's
• 1:23:02
  and the Walmart, all these big companies that
• 1:23:05
  purchase the bodies of these animals.
• 1:23:08
  For Zoe's speech to go viral, it's going
• 1:23:10
  to put everybody on like the hot seat,
• 1:23:14
  all the advertising, all the media.
• 1:23:16
  Agribusiness spends so much money on these PR
• 1:23:20
  campaigns to make everybody think that these are
• 1:23:23
  humane, free, antibiotic-free, family farm.
• 1:23:28
  B.S. These are not family farms.
• 1:23:31
  These are torture chambers.
• 1:23:33
  Well, again, I want to say flat out,
• 1:23:38
  we invite any companies and agencies involved in
• 1:23:40
  this on, and I do want to point
• 1:23:43
  out what Purdue has said about its operations.
• 1:23:50
  No cages or crates, no antibiotics, no drugs,
• 1:23:53
  freedom to express normal behavior.
• 1:23:56
  Well, that's, you know, these are, look, that
• 1:24:02
  is subjective.
• 1:24:04
  Like one person can see it one way,
• 1:24:06
  one person could see it another way, audited
• 1:24:09
  and verified.
• 1:24:11
  That's another issue because some people say, well,
• 1:24:16
  the agencies that are auditing, you know, question
• 1:24:19
  them.
• 1:24:21
  I urge everybody go to corporate.purduefarms.com
• 1:24:24
  forward slash responsibility forward slash animal care, investigate
• 1:24:28
  for yourself.
• 1:24:30
  It's a very in-depth record.
• 1:24:33
  Okay.
• 1:24:34
  But by the same token, you can also
• 1:24:36
  go to purdueabuse.com and DXC has an
• 1:24:39
  eight-page investigatory report that they've issued.
• 1:24:46
  So we are here showing that this is
• 1:24:52
  a huge issue and we want to bring
• 1:24:56
  it to light.
• 1:24:57
  We want to bring it to the public's
• 1:24:58
  attention.
• 1:24:59
  And really it's up to individuals to do
• 1:25:03
  the homework.
• 1:25:04
  We can't do all the homework for you.
• 1:25:06
  Um, we're going to wrap it up.
• 1:25:09
  We're we've just been an hour and a
• 1:25:10
  half.
• 1:25:11
  I want to thank my fantastic panel.
• 1:25:13
  Just really amazing.
• 1:25:15
  Um, and Johnny, you did a good job
• 1:25:17
  out there.
• 1:25:18
  First time as a reporter for Unchained TV
• 1:25:20
  did a really wonderful job.
• 1:25:22
  Now they're back in court tomorrow.
• 1:25:25
  So, uh, I think we're going to be
• 1:25:26
  back in court with them tomorrow to see
• 1:25:29
  what happens.
• 1:25:29
  Cause it could be a lot of very
• 1:25:31
  dramatic, um, developments.
• 1:25:34
  These cases are like roller coasters.
• 1:25:36
  I've covered many cases, uh, for major networks.
• 1:25:39
  And I can tell you that, uh, cases
• 1:25:42
  of this magnitude are like runaway freight trains.
• 1:25:44
  You never know what's going to happen from
• 1:25:46
  one moment to the next.
• 1:25:47
  And I've covered some of the biggest cases
• 1:25:49
  in the last 40 years.
• 1:25:52
  So you can't predict what a jury is
• 1:25:54
  going to do.
• 1:25:55
  You don't know for sure one way or
• 1:25:57
  another, if the defendant's going to take the
• 1:25:59
  stand, you don't know.
• 1:26:02
  They submit all these big witness lists.
• 1:26:03
  You don't know if half or even a
• 1:26:05
  quarter of those witnesses are going to show
• 1:26:07
  up.
• 1:26:08
  And, uh, so there's just question mark after
• 1:26:10
  question mark after question mark.
• 1:26:12
  But one thing we're going to do is
• 1:26:13
  be here covering it.
• 1:26:14
  We invite the companies that are associated with
• 1:26:17
  this case on any time we would love
• 1:26:19
  to dialogue with you.
• 1:26:20
  We want to thank our fantastic panel for
• 1:26:22
  being here.
• 1:26:22
  And we invite our audience to come back
• 1:26:25
  tomorrow.
• 1:26:26
  We are actually going to go at the
• 1:26:28
  lunch break at around 12 noon.
• 1:26:31
  We're going to go live tomorrow at 12
• 1:26:33
  noon, because we went live today because there
• 1:26:35
  was a news conference scheduled.
• 1:26:36
  So tomorrow we're going to be live at
• 1:26:38
  12 noon Pacific, 3 PM Eastern.
• 1:26:41
  And I urge all of you to join
• 1:26:43
  us for the trial of Zoe Rosenberg.