Bari Vs. FBI week 1 wrap-up

JUDI BARI v. the FBI, April 11, 2002

Oakland, CA.
The civil rights lawsuit of Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney
against the FBI and Oakland Police Dept. (OPD) wrapped up its first week today, with witnesses Karen Pickett, Paul Slivinski, Betty Ball, Gary Ball, Michelle Gribi, and Sgt. Michael Sitterud testifying. The questioning of Wednesday and Thursday‚s witnesses largely aimed to establish the time of arrest and the events immediately following the car-bomb blast that occurred when the two plaintiffs, who are prominent environmentalists, were traveling through Oakland on May 24, 1990.

The exact time of arrest and the order in which events occurred are crucial to determining at which point police and FBI officers in charge of the investigation decided that the car's occupants were the bombing suspects. According to the deposed testimony of OPD officer Walter Ludwig (now deceased), he filled out the arresting paperwork on Judi at 3 pm, while she was in surgery. Ludwig‚s testimony further revealed that the arresting documents he produced had been later altered to change the penal code section under which Judi and Darryl were booked.

Meanwhile, at the bombing scene, Alameda County Bomb Squad responder T.J. Roumph had come to the initial conclusion that the bomb was placed under the car seat, not in the back floorboard as FBI Special Agent Frank Doyle has maintained. Roumph‚s testimony contradicts the FBI‚s conclusion that Judi and Darryl must have known the bomb was there.

Seeds of Peace activist Shannon Marr and Earth First! organizer Karen Pickett testified that they were immediately swept into custody and questioned by police simply for being friends of Judi‚s when the bomb exploded (Shannon) and for trying to visit Judi in the hospital (Karen). The Seeds of Peace house, where Judi and Darryl had spent the night before, was ransacked during a warrantless search. The car‚s passenger, Darryl Cherney, was put under control of OPD Officer Paul Slivinski, who testified he understood he was "guarding a prisoner". Slivinski escorted Cherney out of the hospital at about 5 pm and took him to Oakland police headquarters, where he would be questioned and booked into jail.

OPD Evidence Technician Michelle Gribi provided the information that the evidence from the bombing scene was taken to the police administration building, from which is was transferred to the San Francisco FBI
headquarters, where it languished for 5 days.

Former director of the Mendocino Environmental Center Betty Ball testified that organizing activities for the 1990 Redwood Summer protests had its
core a renunciation of tree spiking and a requirement for all participants to sign pledges of non-violence and participate in non-violence training.

She also noted that FBI Special Agent Stockton Buck had attempted to talk to her in the fall of 1990, but she declined to do so without a lawyer present. When she sought an interview with her lawyer present, Mr. Buck was
unavailable. Under cross-examination from the defense, Ms. Ball was asked
if she was aware that tensions were heating up in the Persian Gulf at that
time. Said Darryl Cherney, „The FBI talks out of both sides of its mouth:
They first claim that people associated with the plaintiffs wouldn‚t talk
to them, then when confronted with people who repeatedly tried in vain to
talk to them, they blame the Saddam Hussein and the Persian Gulf crisis
crisis for their inability to pursue leads to the real bomber.

Next Monday's witness schedule includes the completion of defendant Sgt.
Sitterud's testimony and the examination of defendant OPD member Sgt.
Robert Chenault, OPD Bomb Squad member Myron Hanson, and OPD Sgt. Del Kraft.

The trial will continue until approximately May 24, 2002, in the Oakland Federal Courthouse, 1301 Clay St., Judge Claudia Wilken‚s courtroom (4th floor). Hearings take place Monday through Thursday, 8:30 am to 1:30 pm.
The proceedings are open to the public.

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To learn more about Judi Bari and the FBI suit please visit:
http://www.judibari.org