Three Plead Guilty in West Asheville Library Altercation, Ethnic-Intimidation Charges Dismissed

Three people originally indicted on ethnic-intimidation charges pleaded guilty to misdemeanor simple assault on March 10 in Buncombe County Superior Court, closing the criminal phase of a case that shook Asheville's west side nearly two years ago and fueled a prolonged community argument over where political expression ends and targeted harassment begins.

The altercation unfolded June 29, 2024, inside the West Asheville Public Library during a seminar titled "Strategic Lessons From Palestinian Resistance," hosted by the Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair. According to police reports, a group of attendees surrounded and assaulted three residents who were live-streaming the event. Among the three victims was a 79-year-old Holocaust survivor. The Asheville Police Department conducted the initial investigation.

Michael Solomon Brocenos, 34; Tyler Byrne Hackett Kelly, 33; and Emily Kathryn Murphy, 38, each entered guilty pleas to simple assault after having initially faced ethnic-intimidation charges. A fourth defendant, Taylor Danielle Zarkin, 35, pleaded guilty to resisting a public officer. Superior Court Judge Louis Trosch presided over Tuesday afternoon's proceeding and placed all four on supervised probation for one year.

The probation terms are identical for each defendant: 30 hours of community service, no contact with the victims, and a prohibition on posting about the event on social media. The court applied a statutory conditional discharge, meaning all charges will be dismissed if the four remain fully compliant with their probation conditions through the one-year term.

The three victims were present at sentencing and, according to the Buncombe County District Attorney's Office, "expressed satisfaction with the disposition of the case."

The DA's office acknowledged in its release that the incident "sparked significant community debate regarding the distinction between anti-Zionism and ethnic intimidation," but stated plainly that "the judgment focuses on the physical assault and the defendants' conduct." That framing reflects the trajectory of the entire prosecution: charges that began as ethnic intimidation resolved as misdemeanor simple assault, with the more serious counts never reaching trial.

Whether the plea terms adequately addressed the nature of the confrontation, including the assault of an elderly Holocaust survivor inside a public library branch, remained a subject of debate in the weeks following the incident. The court's use of a conditional discharge means that if Brocenos, Kelly, Murphy, and Zarkin meet every condition of their probation, no criminal conviction will remain on record.