Earth First! Activist Files Appeal in Freshwater Forest Defense Case

For Immediate Release
November 26, 2003

Earth First! Activist Files Appeal in Freshwater Forest Defense Case

Attorney Ed Denson today filed a notice of intent to appeal the June conviction of Earth First! activist Naomi Wagner for resisting arrest last March. Wagner, who locked herself to a small tree at the base of a twelve-hundred-year-old redwood occupied by year-long tree-sitter Remedy, was one of forty-five arrested during mass public protests against Maxxam/Pacific Lumber clear-cutting old growth redwoods on the steep slopes of Freshwater watershed. They were also protesting the dangerous methods used by company-hired climbers to extract tree-sitters from the ancient trees they were protecting along Greenwood Heights Road. Wagner, a fifty-eight-year-old grandmother and long-time North Coast activist, was recently handed a forty-day jail sentence by judge Reinholtson beginning November 30th.

The appeal alleges the prosecutorial misconduct and judicial error unfairly and illegally manipulated the jury's perception and guilty verdict on the resistance charge. At issue is a particular videotape, shot at the protest scene by an undercover Maxxam/PL photographer that was not disclosed by the prosecutor Ed Borg, in a timely manner as required by discovery law. Borg said that a PL attorney had given him the tape at 8:30 on the last morning of the trial; however, he did not reveal the tape until later, after using it to discredit Wagner's testimony and mislead the jury by misrepresenting the tape's material.

"We believe the outcome would have been different if the videotape had been given to us as required in discovery - that's what discovery laws are meant for, to prevent a set-up and sucker-punch approach to law," said Wagner's attorney, Ed Denson. "We have some technical hurdles to handle, but filing for appeal preserves our options." Wagner will be free pending the appeal, which must first pass through a county review of local judges.

After the hung verdict on trespass charges, PL excoriated the District Attorney's office in a volley of press releases for not obtaining convictions. However, at the sentencing hearing in September 03' trespass charges were dropped, foregoing the option to re-try the issue. "If the company could come up with the tape at the last minute of the trial, why couldn't they produce a deed to show ownership after three months?" asked Wagner.