Q-tip Pepper Spray Re-Trial May 12

The Headwaters vs. Humboldt pepper spray by Q-tip civil rights suit retrial begins a week from today, May 12, in federal court in Eureka, unless the appeals court delays it, which is unlikely.

Background: Nine Headwaters Forest Defense activists were swabbed and sprayed with pepper spray by Humboldt sheriff's deputies as they nonviolently protested the Headwaters Forest acquisition deal in 1997. They sued in federal court, and their first trial in 1998 ended in a hung jury, then was dismissed by the judge. After four years in the appellate courts bouncing back and forth between the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court, the activists won a new trial. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker has moved the trial to Eureka, where it will certainly be harder to find an unbiased jury for a forest protest related case than in San Francisco, where the first trial was held with the same judge presiding.

The issue: whether police will be allowed to use pepper spray, a chemical weapon outlawed for use in war, to punish, torture and coerce nonviolent protesters who are no threat to any person or property. The plaintiffs have offered repeatedly to settle if Humboldt would just agree not to use pepper spray in this way, but the county has refused.

The activist plaintiffs are now represented by the stellar Judi Bari vs. FBI legal team, including attorneys Dennis Cunningham, J. Tony Serra, Bill Simpich, Bob Bloom, Ben Rosenfeld, Brendan Cummings, and John Tanghe, plus paralegal Alicia Littletree.

You're invited and encouraged to subscribe to a very low traffic email bulletin list for brief updates on the case and trial. Except during trial there will rarely be more than one message a week, and even during trial there will be no more than one message a day. Your email address will not be revealed to others.

Just send a blank email to nopepperspray-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com, or click on mailto:nopepperspray-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com and send the resulting email. You'll receive an automated reply that you must reply to to confirm your subscription. Easy unsubscribe instructions are included in every email sent to the list.

Copied below is the latest message sent to the list this morning.

Thanks for your interest.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bulletin from http://www.nopepperspray.org

Judge denies trial site motion, we may appeal, trial starts in Eureka in a week

Judge Walker has denied our motion to hold the retrial in San Francisco instead of moving it to Eureka. "We want the appellate court to intervene, and order the case to remain in San Francisco so it won't be tried in a hotbed of prejudice," our lawyer Dennis Cunningham told the Press Democrat. The federal appellate court has the power to issue a stay order delaying the trial until it can hear the appeal, but it is rare for it to do so except in capital criminal cases.

In his ruling released last Tuesday, Walker said, "This case is not about the so-called 'Timber Wars,' but instead about police practices." We strongly disagree; this case certainly IS about the timber wars. All three pepper spray torture incidents that are the basis of this suit took place during protests against Pacific Lumber logging of Headwaters Forest. They were part and parcel of a continuing nonviolent struggle over Headwaters and old-growth logging that is the centerpiece of what some call the timber wars. Yes, the case is about police practices, but only in the context of the timber wars. The important question is not whether the judge can pretend there's no connection, but whether the average juror in Eureka could treat forest defense protesters impartially in a case where the police were acting on behalf of the timber industry.

Unless the appeals court blocks it, the trial begins on Monday, May 12 in a federal courtroom in Eureka, the heart of redwood timber country, in a community deeply split over timber industry vs. forest activist issues. Also on May 12, the Humboldt County DA will file additional charges in state court in his fraud suit against Pacific Lumber, guaranteeing that controversy will be roiling during jury selection and opening arguments in our case. There will also be a major hearing in the DA's fraud case on May 13.

For details about the motions and a report on the April 24 court hearing on them please visit http://www.nopepperspray.org . There you will also find a complete background on the case including legal documents, newspaper articles, streaming MP3 audio clips, information about what you can do and links to related information.

We urgently need to raise funds to cover the high expenses of trial. We would be very grateful if you could send whatever donation you can afford. Please send tax-deductible donations to the Pepper Spray Plaintiffs' fund at Trees Foundation, P.O. Box 2202, Redway CA 95560.

To subscribe to our low-traffic email bulletin list click the following link and send the resulting blank email:
mailto:nopepperspray-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com