A Closer Look at one of the Santa Cruz 11
Desiree Foster, the youngest of the Santa Cruz Eleven, was arrested on February 8th as she and her boyfriend were leaving her home on her way to the Santa Cruz Courthouse in an attempt to quash her arrest warrant by agreeing to appear in court on a certain date. Instead, she spent the next nine hours sitting on plastic seating watching a deputy-controlled television set, having been arrested for two felony counts, conspiracy and vandalism, and two misdemeanor counts of trespass, with bail set at $5,000. Her mother, suffering from cancer, attempted to raise the $500 to bail out her daughter, when, inexplicably, Desiree was released on her own recognizance.
But the pressure of the felony charges, the financial instability of her family, and the fear and dread that she faced in dealing with her mother’s cancer, proved to be too much. Desiree took an overdose of pills and wound