DxE investigator and animal rescuer Zoe Rosenberg is on trial in Sonoma County, California. She is facing years in jail for rescuing four sick and injured chickens from Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse. All media requests to record the trial have been denied, but you can follow along through these Court Watch summaries, on our Perdue Rescue Trial X account, on our Instagram, and on UnchainedTV. Check back regularly for new updates. Want to take action? Sign the petition at RightToRescue.com and share the news with your friends and family.

Monday, October 20th

Court began this morning outside the presence of the jury. Deputy District Attorney Matthew Hobson presented dozens of pages of documents and a flash drive of video clips that he intends to use for cross-examining Rosenberg. The defense objected and requested time to review these documents and videos they only just received. After a short amount of time, which was not enough to review all the last-minute evidence, the defense argued against the documents (mostly social media posts and photos of Rosenberg at protests) one-by-one, arguing they were prejudicial, in some cases completely irrelevant, and cumulative as they were largely all making the same point which was already established, that Rosenberg believes strongly in animal rights. Judge Gnoss excluded some of the documents but ruled that the majority of them could be used for cross-examination. The court delayed addressing the video clips until tomorrow. At this point, the jury entered, Rosenberg took the stand again, and Hobson continued cross-examination.

He questioned Rosenberg about leading DxE's social media team, about how the footage from the rescue was uploaded and included in a livestream, and about how previous actions at Reichardt Duck Farm in 2019 and Sunrise Farms in 2018 were also livestreamed. He also asked her again about the speaking tour she did leading up to this trial and whether the tour was for publicity. She said in part, yes. Hobson continued asking questions about publicity, including about a Facebook event page promoting the Animal Liberation Conference, about how the Sunrise Farms and Reichardt Duck Farm rescues happened at previous Animal Liberation Conferences, how they generated a lot of publicity, and about the near-daily videos Rosenberg is posting on social media about what's happening in this trial. He concluded this series of questions by asking, "When is your birthday?" Rosenberg answered, "June 13th." (The rescue took place on June 13, 2023.)

Hobson is not done with his cross-examination of Rosenberg. It will continue tomorrow afternoon.

When Judge Gnoss dismissed the jury, he told them that he expects to finish the evidentiary portion of this case most likely by Thursday and to have closing arguments and jury instructions on Friday.

Tuesday, October 21st

Today, the attorneys argued over which video clips the prosecution would be allowed to present during Rosenberg's continued cross-examination. Judge Gnoss ruled that the court will not admit video allegedly of Rosenberg at Reichardt Duck Farm in late 2023, after the rescue at issue in this case. He decided to allow a video of Rosenberg describing DxE's 40-year roadmap to an Animal Bill of Rights, saying it goes to her intent, and video of Rosenberg protesting at a restaurant during a lobster-eating event in 2022.

Around noon, defense counsel alerted the court that Rosenberg was having medical issues (specifically a flare up of gastroparesis) and the court allowed her to leave for the remainder of the day. Jurors were contacted to tell them not to come in at 1:30pm. Instead of resuming cross-examination in the afternoon, attorneys continued to argue over evidence, juror instructions, and other matters outside the presence of the jury. Court will resume Thursday at 11:00am with Rosenberg's continued cross-examination.

Wednesday, October 22nd

Judge Gnoss does not hold trial court on Wednesdays so there is no court today.

Thursday, October 23rd

Today, Hobson continued to cross-examine Rosenberg. He spent a lot of time going through years-old social media posts Zoe has made and basically putting her on trial over her beliefs, even though it was already well-established that she believes strongly in animal rights. One of the posts said, "There is no humane way to kill someone who does not want to die," which Rosenberg confirmed she believed then and still believes today. Hobson also played a short video of teenage Rosenberg giving a talk about DxE's 40-year roadmap to animal rights, in which she discussed how DxE has studied previous social justice movements and consulted with leaders like trailblazing gay rights activist Evan Wolfson. In the video, she explained that Wolfson was laughed at for saying marriage equality would happen in his lifetime, but he was right.

Hobson also asked Rosenberg about various animal rights protests and civil disobedience actions she has participated in over the years, including disrupting sports games and dyeing a fountain on the UC Berkeley campus red to represent blood during a protest urging the university to cut ties with factory farm suppliers in their dining halls.

Eventually, Hobson asked Rosenberg more questions about the June 13th rescue, including asking if she believed that a large number of the birds on the truck would end up being criminally abused inside the slaughterhouse. She confirmed she believed this, and he asked why she didn't rescue more animals then. She said she left to get the four animals care and that was what she had the capacity to do at the time.

Court concluded with a discussion outside the presence of the jury about what doors have been opened by the prosecution's cross-examination of Rosenberg. Defense attorney Chris Carraway argued that the door was opened for them to dive deeper into 6 things:

• Reports Rosenberg sent to the authorities about Petaluma Poultry
  
  • Judge Gnoss ruled to allow the defense to introduce certain emails Rosenberg sent to the authorities, but not the attached reports detailing animal cruelty. He also allowed a few dismissive responses from the authorities to Rosenberg's reports to come in.
• Documents Rosenberg observed firsthand inside Petaluma Poultry, specifically a tally sheet indicating birds were scalded alive. He argued the door has been opened to discuss these documents because the prosecution has strongly contested the fact that birds were scalded alive.
  
  • Judge Gnoss denied this request.
• The conditions Rosenberg observed while investigating Hunter Lane (a Petaluma Poultry factory farm) in April 2023
  
  • Judge Gnoss said he will take time to consider this.
• The legal opinion Ms. Rosenberg relied upon, which the prosecution attacked
  
  • Judge Gnoss said he will take the evening to consider this.

• What Rosenberg has to lose since prosecution made it seem like she is gaining publicity from this prosecution
  
  • Judge Gnoss denied this request.
• The condition of the other birds who were rescued on June 13th
  
  • Judge Gnoss said the only way to bring in those birds is through Ms. Deerbrook. She would have to come back.

Lastly, the prosecution withdrew their subpoena of Lewis Bernier.

Court will resume tomorrow at 11:00am for 402 hearings (evidentiary hearings outside the presence of the jury) for Almira Tanner and Paul Darwin Picklesimer, who are subpoenaed by the prosecution.

Friday, October 24th

Court began with good news. Judge Gnoss gave his rulings on the two defense requests he took under consideration yesterday. He ruled that Rosenberg would be able to talk about what she observed at Hunter Lane, a Petaluma Poultry factory farm, in April 2023, not long before she entered Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse. He said, "She can talk about the two chickens she rescued, Petunia and Vincent, but nothing further." He also ruled that an excerpt of Bonnie Klapper's legal opinion, on which Rosenberg relied, could be admitted and presented to the jury.

Next, still before the jury arrived, there were 402 hearings for Almira Tanner and Paul Darwin Picklesimer, two DxE organizers the prosecution subpoenaed to try to force them to testify against Rosenberg. Tanner and Picklesimer each had counsel representing them and they both invoked their 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to answer any questions. The prosecution, having anticipated this, was immediately ready with printed immunity deals that they offered to Tanner and Picklesimer, in an effort to remove the 5th Amendment concerns and force them to testify. Their attorneys pointed out that the prosecution did not have immunity deals from Alameda County (where the Golden Gate Fields protest on June 13th took place) or from Solano County (where a third rescue of chickens from Petaluma Poultry on June 13th took place, following Rosenberg's rescue and Deerbrook's rescue). The attorneys argued that because the prosecution was alleging a very broad conspiracy and wanted to question their clients about their statements regarding these events in other places, they needed to secure immunity deals from these counties as well. Ultimately, Judge Gnoss said he was inclined to sign the immunity agreement for Picklesimer, who was actually present outside the Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse on June 13th, but would limit the questioning to focus only on what happened there in Sonoma County. He gave Picklesimer's attorney until Monday at 11:00am to get ready. Regarding Tanner, Judge Gnoss pointed out that Tanner was not present at the Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse protest nor at the Golden Gate Fields protest and he said the offer of proof for Tanner is insufficient and appears to be "a fishing expedition" from the prosecution. He denied the request for immunity, meaning Tanner does not have to testify.

When the jury arrived in the afternoon, Hobson finally finished cross-examining Rosenberg. Then Carraway did redirect with Rosenberg. They clarified important points and brought in the new evidence that the cross-examination had opened the door to. Rosenberg testified about her prior observations at the Petaluma Poultry factory farm, where she said she saw thousands of birds crowded together, many of them very sick and unable to stand up, others dead and left among the living. She told the jury that she rescued two birds she named Vincent and Petunia. Vincent was down on the floor, breathing heavily and unable to move when she nudged him. Petunia was on her back, with a bloody, injured wing, and she shrieked in pain when she was touched.

Once Rosenberg was off the witness stand, the defense rested its case. On Monday, the prosecution is calling at least one rebuttal witness. Closing arguments are expected on Tuesday.