Former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein briefly faced arrest Monday after she and her attorney failed to show up for a St. Louis court hearing over misdemeanor charges stemming from a 2024 pro-Palestinian campus protest.
St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Karma Johnson issued an arrest warrant for Stein, 76, during the morning hearing after neither Stein nor her attorney appeared. Prosecutors did not request the warrant, but Johnson issued it anyway and initially ordered Stein held without bond.
The warrant did not last long.
Stein’s attorney, Joseph Welch, appeared in court later Monday and successfully asked Johnson to quash it. The judge continued the case until Sept. 14 and ordered Stein to appear in person, warning that another warrant will be issued if she again fails to appear.
The unusual courtroom episode is the latest development in a case dating back to the wave of anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian encampments that swept American college campuses in 2024.
Stein was arrested on April 27, 2024, during a demonstration at Washington University in St. Louis over the war in Gaza. More than 100 protesters were arrested after demonstrators locked arms and established an encampment near Olin Library.
Despite the large number of arrests, Stein and one other protester, Jeron Hicks, were ultimately charged. The charges against Hicks appear to have since been dropped.
Stein faces one count each of first-degree trespassing and fourth-degree assault, both misdemeanors.
According to charging documents, Stein grabbed a bicycle belonging to Officer Conroy during the confrontation. When Officer Moore intervened, authorities allege, the bicycle struck Moore’s forearm and Stein kicked him multiple times in the right leg near his groin.
Moore was later diagnosed with a forearm strain, a contusion on the back of his right leg and a groin injury.
Stein has disputed authorities’ account of the encounter. She has said an officer grabbed her foot while attempting to make her fall and that she “wiggled out of his grip” to avoid falling on her head.
The case was originally brought in St. Louis County before being transferred after authorities determined the alleged incident occurred on the city side of Washington University’s campus, which straddles the city-county boundary. County prosecutors have continued handling the prosecution.
When the charges were filed in March 2025, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Melissa Price Smith stressed that the prosecution was based on Stein’s alleged conduct rather than her political views or participation in the protest.
“These charges merely reflect our professional judgment that we have the evidence to prove these particular criminal charges beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Stein, a physician and self-described eco-socialist, has been one of the country’s most prominent third-party political figures for more than a decade, serving as the Green Party’s presidential nominee in 2012, 2016 and 2024.
She has not publicly commented on Monday’s court drama.
Her next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 14 in St. Louis.
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