SHAC7 mistrial -- case now delayed until September at least

By Wayne Perry
Associated Press Writer
June 20, 2005, 7:28 PM EDT

NEWARK, N.J. -- A judge declared a mistrial Monday in the conspiracy case of
six animal rights activists charged under domestic terrorism laws after the
lawyer for one was too ill to continue with the trial.

U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper, sitting in Trenton, halted the
proceedings because Isabel McGinty, the attorney for defendant Kevin
Kjonaas, was too ill to proceed with the trial, which began nearly three
weeks ago.

Kjonaas and five others associated with the animal rights group Stop
Huntingdon Animal Cruelty will be retried at an unspecified future date,
said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The case is not likely to come to trial before September, Drewniak said.

"We have faith in the evidence and look forward to retrying it when the
judge approves," he said.

Kjonaas and the others are charged with conspiring to threaten and terrorize
employees and customers of Huntingdon Life Sciences, a Britain-based drug
testing company that uses animals in its tests in laboratories in East
Millstone, N.J.

The defendants _ Kjonaas, 27; Lauren Gazzola, 26; Jacob Conroy, 29; Joshua
Harper, 30; Darius Fullmer, 28; John McGee, 26, and Andrew Stepanian, 26 _
have denied any wrongdoing and say the trial violates their right to free
speech.

On June 14, McGinty halted her opening statement and complained that she
felt faint. She was admitted to a hospital that night and was discharged two
days later. The nature of her illness has not been disclosed.

The defendants were arrested in May 2004. All but Harper, of Seattle, and
Stepanian, of Huntington, N.Y., are current or former New Jersey residents.
The group lists a post office box in Philadelphia on its Web site but
currently operates out of the San Francisco area, according to a
spokeswoman.

The six could be sentenced to three and five years in prison, and fines of
up to $250,000 if convicted. They are the first people to be charged in New
Jersey under the federal Animal Enterprise Protection Act, a 1992 law that
was expanded in 2002 and equates their alleged activities with domestic
terrorism.

The indictment alleges the group incited others to commit crimes of
vandalism and harassment against employees of Huntingdon and companies that
did business with Huntingdon by putting employees' names, addresses and
other personal information on a Web site. Later, the group would post
reports of the incidents on the site.

The group says it does not support activities that harm people.