Jury acquits CSU lecturer accused of throwing tear gas at federal immigration officers

A Cal State University lecturer charged with assaulting federal officers with tear gas was acquitted on Thursday.

Jonathan Caravello, a philosophy lecturer at Cal State Channel Islands, was arrested while protesting a raid at a licensed cannabis farm in Ventura County last summer.

For three days, Caravello’s colleagues, friends, family and students packed the courtroom at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The jury returned a verdict within about two hours, according to Caravello’s attorney, Knut Johnson.

“He was never trying to hurt anyone and didn't hurt anyone,” Johnson told LAist Thursday after the verdict was rendered. “He knows that trying to hurt people or hurting them does nothing to help the cause he supports.”

What was the case about?

The federal government said agents were executing a search warrant at the farm, in search of evidence of unlawful employment. In his opening statement Wednesday, assistant U.S. attorney Roger Hsieh said Border Patrol agent Rafael Cortez deployed tear gas because protesters obstructed traffic on a two-lane road and surrounded federal agents' vehicles.

Hsieh argued that Caravello picked up the canister and threw it back in the direction of federal agents, with the intent to hurt them. The canister—now a "deadly or dangerous weapon"— had the potential to break bones and burn skin, Hsieh said.

Caravello's legal team, led by Johnson, underscored that the lecturer did not hurt anyone and shared a video showing federal vehicles making their way across the road.

"The road was clear," said Johnson. "There was no need to deploy [tear gas]."

The defense also shared images in which most of the crowd stayed at a distance, along with body cam footage recorded moments before the tear gas was deployed. In it, Cortez can be heard telling a colleague: "Gas the shit out them! . . . Just like we did earlier."

Another video showed Caravello initially tried to kick away the tear gas canister. He missed. Then, within seconds, Caravello picked it up and hurled it into the air. Johnson said the lecturer threw the canister as far as he could—past the agents—to keep protesters safe from harm.

Kendall McClellan, an English lecturer at Cal State Channel Islands, noted that the campus is just a short drive from the cannabis farm where the raid took place and that some students' parents were employed there.

The crowd that gathered at the farm, she added, included farmworkers' worried family members, including children, and not just protesters.

Why this case is important to faculty

The California Faculty Association, which represents CSU faculty, said in a statement Thursday that they welcomed the jury's decision.

"After a thorough investigation by the court, [Caravello] was cleared of any wrongdoing," the statement said. "The jury’s decision underscores [his] right to peacefully protest and speak out against the cruelty and inhumanity this administration has shown toward immigrants and other marginalized communities across the country."

McClellan, who was among faculty who went to the courthouse to support Caravello, added: "We all feel like this case is not just about [him], that it's about the way that our right to protest, our right to speak up, our right to protect ourselves, our right to free speech is being threatened by the current federal government."

"The point [of the felony charge]," she added, "is to induce fear in the community. If you step outta line, if you show up at a protest even—first of all, you're in danger of being harmed by rubber bullets or by tear gas. And, then, if you dare to try to protect yourself from that harm, we will make your life hell."

Ryan Witt, a senior at Cal State Channel Islands, has taken two of Caravello's classes. "From day one," he told LAist, the lecturer makes it a point to share resources for students who might need additional support, whether they're dealing with food insecurity or other challenges.

"He cares about us as people," Witt said.

The English major made the trek to downtown Los Angeles every day of Caravello's trial, with other students in tow.

Senior editor for education Ross Brenneman contributed to this story.