Two activists who smashed several windows at the Police Drop-In Center at 23rd and Union in July have been sentenced to community service. Patrick Joseph McGowan IV and Laura Ann Stahl pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree malicious mischief, a misdemeanor, as part of a plea agreement, the P.I. reports. They have been sentenced to 240 hours of community service and a 12-month deferred sentence. They will also have to repay the $1,091 in repair costs.

The judge shared the activists’ concern about police misbehavior, but questioned their methods. From the P.I.:

Imposing the sentence agreed to by prosecutors, King County Superior Court Judge Catherine Shaffer told Stahl, 23, and McGowan, 27, their actions — an apparent protest of police brutality — were “stupid” and misguided, in that they only succeeded in making it more difficult for poor people living in the area to get police help

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“No one is getting beaten up at a community police service center,” Shaffer said.

Attorneys for the activists were described them as educated and active volunteers:

Attorneys for Stahl and McGowan described their clients as well-educated young people without significant criminal histories.

McGowan, his attorney said, has a “long history of social activism and volunteer work.” Stahl was described as a studious young woman who dropped out of the University of Washington one class short of a degree.

Offered an opportunity to address the court Friday, neither elected to apologize for or explain their actions. Instead, each remained silent as more than a dozen supporters looked on.