SANTA CRUZ >> Responding to formal charges filed this week by the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office, a 49-year-old man pleaded not guilty Thursday to vandalizing a street mural last year.

Taj Blum, 49, of Santa Cruz County, has been charged with defacing Santa Cruz’s Black Lives Matter mural, allegedly splashing blue paint on the Center Street painting on the afternoon of July 29. The felony act — involving more than $400 of damage — occurred a month after a large-scale community effort to restore the mural from a previous vandalism. The initial vandalism, rubber tread burnout marks left in July 2021 by Brandon Bochat and Hagan Warner, was treated as a hate crime that the two men pleaded no contest to in October 2022. Authorities have determined that Blum’s alleged act of vandalism was not a hate crime-motivated act.

Cayenne Heron, Blum’s sister and one of his caretakers, said Thursday that her brother has long struggled with mental health issues and is not a racist individual. Around the time of the vandalism, she said, he was dealing with the illness of his mother.

“This was a mentally ill person that now is also worried about future employment or harassment,” Heron said.

A public defense attorney was appointed to represent Blum during Thursday’s hearing, with a preliminary hearing setting date scheduled for 8:15 a.m. March 28 before Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Stephen Siegel. Blum was released Thursday from the Santa Cruz County Jail.The Black Lives Matter street mural’s origin dates back to September 2020, when a group of local artists and community members that later formed the Santa Cruz Equity Collab came together during the Black Lives Matter social justice movement.

The city-approved downtown community mural came in the wake of protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

Ongoing annual summer events are planned at the permitted mural, gatherings designed to bring together the community for healing and discussion.