Prosecutors in Texas have dropped criminal trespassing charges against nearly 80 anti-Israel agitators who demonstrated on the University of Texas at Austin campus in April during the height of the college campus protests, with UT Austin leaders slamming the decision. 

Travis County Attorney Delia Garza announced that all 79 people who were arrested on April 29 had their charges thrown out. At an earlier protest at the campus, 56 arrests were made with criminal trespass charges dropped the following day. 

The news comes after dozens of anti-Israel protesters who occupied and barricaded themselves in buildings on the Columbia University campus in April had their charges dropped last week.

“After examining and weighing all the evidence presented, we have determined that we cannot meet our legal burden to prove these 79 criminal trespass cases beyond reasonable doubt, and they will be dismissed,” Garza said, according to Fox 7.

UT AUSTIN PROTESTS DESCEND INTO CHAOS, ANTI-ISRAEL STUDENTS YELL AT POLICE: ‘PIGS GO HOME!’

“At the time, I voiced my concerns about the large volume of arrests on the low-level non-violent charge,” Garza said. 

Garza said a team of prosecutors spent 90 hours evaluating these cases before a decision was made. She said her team reviewed evidence including body camera footage and hundreds of pages of offense reports, the law and concerns about violations of constitutionally protected rights of free speech.

“We also have the responsibility to determine if pursuing any case is in the interest of justice, in the interest of public safety, and aligns with the values of this community,” Garza said.

UT Austin released a statement expressing the institution’s dissatisfaction with the decision. 

GUNS CONFISCATED FROM ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS AT UT AUSTIN, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

“We respect the law and are deeply disappointed by the County Attorney’s actions,” the statement reads, per Fox 11.

“The University will continue to use the law enforcement and administrative tools at our disposal to maintain safety and operational continuity for our 53,000 students who come to campus to learn, regardless of whether the criminal justice system shares this commitment. Free speech is welcome on our campus.”

“Violating laws or rules is not. Actions that violate laws and institutional rules should be met with consequences, not with political posturing and press conferences.” 

The dismissals only apply to criminal trespassing cases, and UT police also charged a man who they say illegally carried a loaded gun on campus during the protest. Two additional charges from the protest for obstructing a highway or passageway and interfering with public duty are still pending, according to the Austin-American Statesman. 

A professor was also arrested by the Texas Department of Public Safety for allegedly grabbing a trooper’s bike and yelling expletives. The professor was subsequently fired by the university, the publication reported. 

Protesters at the demonstration were heard chanting “Pigs go home!” at the Texas law enforcement officers on the scene. The keffiyeh-wearing protesters attempted to set up tents similar to other campuses. 

Dozens of arrests were made at anti-Israel protests at UT Austin. (KTBC)

Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, denounced the protests at the time as lawless and antisemitic.

“These protesters belong in jail,” Abbott wrote. “Antisemitism will not be tolerated in Texas. Period. Students joining in hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled.”

Fox News’ Lawrence Richard, Andrea Vacchiano and Bryan Preston contributed to this report.

Crews with the San Bernardino County Fire Department are on the scene of a wind-driven brushfire in Fontana that has grown to an estimated 350 acres and is threatening structures, authorities confirmed to KTLA.  

The two-alarm blaze, dubbed the “Sierra Fire,” was first reported around 3:30 p.m. in the area of 11660 Sierra Avenue behind Martin Tudor Splash Park, fire officials said.  

Amid warm temperatures and westerly winds blowing between 10-15 miles per hour, the vegetation fire, which was burning in what crews called “light fuel,” moved in a southeasterly direction with “moderate side slop expansion to [the] east,” and quickly grew to some 40 acres.

By 4:30 p.m., fire officials said crews and equipment were in place to protect the threatened structures.  

Just two hours later, the brushfire had grown to some 350 acres with 15% containment.  

“Additional ground resources and aircraft requested,” fire officials said on X, formerly Twitter.  

So far, it does not appear that any mandatory evacuation orders have been issued.  

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.  

This is a developing story. Check back for additional updates.  

Richard Rojem Jr., the Oklahoma man convicted of the 1984 rape and murder of his former stepdaughter, was served pizza and ice cream before he was put to death Thursday morning.

For his final meal, he requested two small double-cheese, double-pepperoni pizzas from Little Caesars and two cups of vanilla ice cream. He also asked for a bottle of Vernors ginger ale, according to The Oklahoman.

Rojem, 66, was put to death by three-drug lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and was declared dead at 10:16 a.m., prison officials said. He did not seek any last-minute stay.

OKLAHOMA DEATH ROW INMATE EXECUTED FOR DOUBLE KILLING AFTER 3 LAST WORDS

When asked if he had any last words, Rojem, who was strapped to a gurney and had an IV in his tattooed left arm, said: “I don’t. I’ve said my goodbyes.”

It was Oklahoma’s second execution of 2024 and the 13th execution since the state resumed capital punishment in October 2021 after a hiatus of more than six years, according to The Oklahoman.

Rojem had been in prison since 1985 and was the longest-serving inmate on Oklahoma’s death row.

He had denied responsibility for killing his former stepdaughter, Layla Cummings. The child’s mutilated and partially clothed body was discovered in a field in rural Washita County near the town of Burns Flat on July 7, 1984. She had been kidnapped, raped and stabbed to death.

“Justice for Layla Cummings was finally served this morning with the execution of the monster responsible for her rape and murder,” Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement after Rojem’s death.

ALABAMA INMATE SET FOR SECOND-EVER NITROGEN GAS EXECUTION SUES: ‘PAIN AND DISGRACE’

Layla Cummings was raped and murdered in 1984 by Richard Rojem. (Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General)

“Layla’s family has endured unimaginable suffering for almost 40 years. My prayer is that today’s action brings a sense of comfort to those who loved her.”

Earlier this month, Drummond asked that the state pardon and parole board reject clemency for Rojem.

Drummond noted that prior to the 1984 murder, Rojem had served four years in a Michigan prison for the rape of two teenage girls. 

Prosecutors argued that Rojem was angry at Cummings because she reported that he sexually abused her, leading to his divorce from the girl’s mother and his return to prison for violating his parole. They had been divorced for about two months at the time of the murder.

Rojem’s attorneys argued at a clemency hearing this month that DNA evidence taken from the girl’s fingernails did not link him to the crime.

“If my client’s DNA is not present, he should not be convicted,” attorney Jack Fisher said.

Prosecutors said evidence of his crimes included a fingerprint discovered outside the girl’s apartment on a cup from a bar Rojem left just before the girl was kidnapped. A condom wrapper found near the girl’s body also was linked to a used condom found in Rojem’s bedroom, prosecutors said.

For his final meal, Rojem requested two small double-cheese, double-pepperoni pizzas from Little Caesars and two cups of vanilla ice cream. He also asked for a bottle of Vernors ginger ale, according to The Oklahoman. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

He was convicted by a Washita County jury in 1985 after just 45 minutes of deliberations. His previous death sentences were twice overturned by appellate courts because of trial errors. A Custer County jury ultimately handed him his third death sentence in 2007.

Rojem, then 26, married the victim’s mother, Mindy Cummings, while he was in prison for raping the two girls, The Oklahoman reports, citing court records. She was the sister of his cellmate and Rojem moved to Oklahoma after being paroled in 1982.

In a statement read by Drummond after the execution, Layla’s mother, Mindy Lynn Cummings, said: “We remember, honor and hold her forever in our hearts as the sweet and precious 7-year-old she was.

“Today marks the final chapter of justice determined by three separate juries for Richard Rojem’s heinous acts nearly 40 years ago when he stole her away like the monster he was.”

Layla Cummings’ body was discovered in a field in rural Washita County near the town of Burns Flat on July 7, 1984.

Rojem became a Zen Buddhist in prison and was known by other followers as Daiji, according to The Oklahoman, citing a packet of information submitted to the parole board by his attorneys.

“I wasn’t a good human being for the first part of my life, and I don’t deny that,” Rojem said at a parole board hearing earlier this month.

“But I went to prison. I learned my lesson and I left all that behind.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.