Pepper Spray By Q tip Trial Starts Today; Press Conference Tomorrow

For immediate release
April 12, 2005

PEPPER SPRAY Q-TIP SWABBING CASE BACK IN COURT
Trial Starts With Jury Selection On April 12

Contacts: Karen Pickett, Josh Brown 510-548-3113

Video images, past pleadings, and other background and links
available at http://www.nopepperspray.org. Beta cam video news
releases and courtroom drawings by court artist K. Rudin are
available through the contact phone number. Interviews with jurors
from the Sept. 2004 trial can be arranged through media contact.

San Francisco, Calif.-A jury will decide whether direct application
by Q-tip of liquid pepper spray into the eyes of passive protesters
is "excessive force"and a violation of Constitutional rights in a
case that goes to trial on April 12, 2005. Jury selection will be
Tuesday with opening arguments expected Wednesday April 13 before the
Hon. Susan Illston at the Federal Courthouse (450 Golden Gate Ave.,
San Francisco, courtroom 10, 19th floor). Court schedule is
Mon.-Thurs., 8:30 am -1:30 pm.

A press conference with the eight plaintiffs and their legal team
will be held before court at 8 a.m. on Wednesday April 13 on the
front steps of the courthouse. Attorneys and plaintiffs will also be
available for media interviews following Wednesday's court session at
1:30.

When Humboldt County sheriff's deputies thrust pepper spray soaked
Q-tips directly into the eyes of activists at sit-in protests calling
for the protection of the ancient redwoods of Headwaters Forest in
northern California, Amnesty International condemned it as
"tantamount to torture." SF Chronicle and Examiner editorials agreed.
The activists sued.

After the first trial in 1998 ended without a verdict, the original
judge-since removed for bias-threw the case out. After years of
appeals as high as the U.S. Supreme Court, the case was reinstated
and sent back for a new trial before a new judge. The activists have
attempted to settle the case with Humboldt County if the county would
revisit their use-of-force policy.

At the second trial in September 2004, the activists recounted their
temporary blindness, trauma and extreme pain as they told of panic
attacks and nightmares that stayed with them long after the
incidents. When the second trial ended in a jury split 6-2 in favor
of the activists, jury foreman Dr. E.D. Feigenbaum said in a radio
interview, "I can't see how anyone could look at [the police video
footage of the incidents] and not see excessive force. But the two
people [jurors] who chose to be opposite the majority were quite
adamant about their position: that these people broke the law, by
trespassing, and whatever happened to them, they deserved."

Another juror, Helen Moyot said, "I am appalled and dismayed that
this [lack of verdict] happened. I do hope there is a third trial and
the plaintiffs win."

After opening statements, the first witnesses on the stand will be
three of the eight plaintiffs, followed by two law enforcement
officers.

The activists are represented by the legal team that won the
unprecedented victory against the FBI in the civil rights case Judi
Bari vs. FBI including Dennis Cunningham and J. Tony Serra.

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