The appeals court reversed the felony conspiracy charge and one misdemeanor trespass charge for Direct Action Everywhere co-founder Wayne Hsiung from actions he took at Petaluma chicken and duck farms in 2018 and 2019. The animal rights group said the court rejected the prosecutor’s argument that animals are to be categorically excluded from a ‘necessity defense’. Hsiung’s attorney argued that the jury was not allowed to see evidence related to his claim that his actions were legally justified under the necessity defense. ‘We agree with defendant that the trial court erroneously limited his presentation of evidence to the jury related to his two-prong mistake of law defense,’ reads the ruling.
BAY CITY NEWS: A California Court of Appeals overturned two convictions for an animal rights activist who was found guilty of felony conspiracy and trespassing stemming from actions he took at Petaluma chicken and duck farms in 2018 and 2019, animal rights organization Direction Action Everywhere said Thursday.
The court reversed the felony conspiracy charge and one misdemeanor trespass charge for Direct Action Everywhere, or DxE, co-founder Wayne Hsiung, the organization said. The animal rights group said the court rejected the prosecutor’s argument that animals are to be categorically excluded from a “necessity defense.”
A necessity defense argues that a person committed a crime only to prevent a greater harm. Hsiung’s attorney argued that the jury was not allowed to see evidence related to his claim that his actions were legally justified under the necessity defense. “We agree with defendant that the trial court erroneously limited his presentation of evidence to the jury related to his two-prong mistake of law defense,” reads the ruling…
Hsiung was sentenced in November 2023 to 90 days in jail and two years of probation after he and other members of DxE converged on Sunrise Farms in Petaluma on May 29, 2018 to protest and remove chickens. The group did the same thing on June 3, 2019 at the Reichardt Duck Farm, also in Petaluma. Hsiung supported the protesters and spoke with law enforcement at the scene.
Hsiung said that taking animals from a factory farm is exercising a “right to rescue” law, akin to the legal right to break into a car to rescue a dog in hot temperatures. The organization is hoping to make legal the right of people to enter places such as a factory farm to remove animals that are being “exploited” or are in distress…
DxE activist Zoe Rosenberg was found guilty in October 2025 of felony conspiracy and misdemeanor counts of trespassing and tampering with a vehicle for entering Petaluma Poultry — a subsidiary of Perdue Foods — in June 2023.
According to prosecutors, Rosenberg carefully planned out an illegal chicken heist, complete with disguises, tracking devices, stealing business records, and a safe house. According to DxE, the chickens were rescued from inhumane conditions and her trespassing was a moral imperative… The birds that Rosenberg took are now living in a sanctuary, she said, and are named Poppy, Ivy, Aster and Azalea. SOURCE
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