[mobglob-discuss] Fwd: [GlobalCircleNetNews] Breaking news - Judi Bari & Cherney win $4.4 MILLION against FBI

[Graeme Bacque]

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To: GlobalCircleNetNews at yahoogroups.com
From: "GlobalCirclenet" <webmaster at globalcircle.net>
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 16:40:10 -0600
Subject: [GlobalCircleNetNews] Breaking news - Judi Bari & Cherney win $4.4 
MILLION against
   FBI

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peace and liberty, sustainability and justice
-------------------

Jury returns $4.4 million verdict for Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney!

Tuesday, June 10, 2:42 PM PDT-- A federal jury today returned a final
verdict in favor of Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney in their civil rights
lawsuit against four FBI agents and three Oakland Police officers. The jury
awarded a total of $4.4 million in damages. The final, completed jury
verdict form showing which defendants were found liable on which claims,
plus the damage awards, can be viewed or downloaded now from the link at
the top of the column to left. (on website http://www.judibari.org/ )
More details will follow shortly.
--------------

Here is the AP version

     Jury awards environmetal activists $4.4 million over 1990 bombing
     By JUSTIN PRITCHARD    Associated Press Writer

     OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - A federal jury awarded $4.4 million Tuesday to
two radical environmentalists who accused Oakland police and the FBI of
trying to frame them for a 1990 bomb blast that wrecked the activists'
car.
     After 17 days of deliberations, the jury awarded the money to activist
Darryl Cherney and the estate of Judi Bari, who died of cancer in 1997.
     Cherney and Bari were injured when a bomb exploded in their Subaru in
1990. Bari, who was at the wheel, suffered a crushed pelvis.
     The two Earth First! members were arrested within hours, with
investigators saying that Cherney and Bari were carrying the bomb for
use in an act of environmental sabotage and that it went off
accidentally underneath Bari's seat.
     But the case fell apart weeks later and the charges were dropped when
prosecutors said there was not enough evidence. No one else was ever
charged in the blast.
     Cherney and Bari claimed that someone planted the bomb in their car and
that they were the victims in the case. They sued police and the FBI for
false arrest, illegal search, slanderous statements and conspiracy,
accusing them of lying and ignoring evidence to make a case.
     ``I think the FBI needed to eat some humble pie and we served them up a
good slice,'' Cherney said after the verdict. ``We're blockading the FBI
from clear-cutting the Constitution.''
     Attorneys for the FBI agents and Oakland police officers did not
immediately return calls for comment.
     The officers and FBI agents claimed that they acted in good faith in
arresting Bari and Cherney. They argued that at the time of the bombing,
Earth First! had a reputation for sabotage - including a dangerous
practice called tree-spiking - and that it was not unreasonable to
suspect Bari and Cherney of transporting a bomb.
     At the time of the blast, Bari and Cherney were organizing Redwood
Summer, a series of protests against the logging of old-growth forests.
     The activists argued that investigators did not bother to look into an
anonymous letter sent to a newspaper shortly after the bombing.
     The letter gave details about the construction and placement of the
bomb. The writer, claiming to be ``the Lord's avenger,'' said the bomb was
retribution for Bari's participation in an abortion rights
demonstration.

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

from media at judibari.org
Judi Bari vs. FBI
Activists Win in Judi Bari vs FBI trial

Contact:  Karen Pickett, Steve Christianson 510/663-6330. www.judibari.org
Camera ready court art from the entire trial available at
www.sf.indymedia.org/features/judibari
Tuesday, June 11, 2002

OAKLAND,CA — The jury in  the Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney federal civil
rights lawsuit against four FBI agents and three Oakland Police officers
awarded plaintiffs $4.4 million for violation of  the activists’
Constitutional rights and returned a verdict largely in favor of Earth
First! activists Cherney and the late Judi Bari. In a legal victory of
historic proportions against the FBI, the jury found that six of the seven
defendants violated the First and Fouth Amendments of the Constitution by
arresting the activists, conducting searches of their homes, and carrying
out a smear campaign in the press, calling Earth First! a terrorist
organization and calling the activists bombers, in the aftermath of the
explosion of a bomb that was planted in Judi Bari’s car in 1990. This
verdict finds unlawful the actions of those in charge of the bombing
investigation, and vindicates Bari and Cherney.

FBI agents Frank Doyle, John Reikes, Philip Sena and OPD officer Mike Sims
were found to have violated Bari and Cherney’s First Amendment rights. In
addition, OPD officer Sitterud was found to have violated Cherney’s First
Amendment rights. Doyle was found to have violated Bari’s Fourth
Amendment
rights related to the search of her home, and Doyle and OPD officer
Chenault were found to have violated Cherney’s Fourth Amendment rights.
FBI agent Doyle and OPD officer Sims were found to have violated Bari’s
Fourth Amendment rights in relation to her arrest. The jury returned an
“undecided” verdict with respect to violations of Cherney’s Fourth
Amendment rights for his arrest.

Frank Doyle was the agent in charge of the 1990 bomb scene, and taught an
FBI bomb school at a Louisiana Pacific clearcut  a month prior to the
bombing. Doyle was also the  Squad 13 relief supervisor. Squad 13 was the
joint terrorism squad made up of FBI and Oakland officers and collected
extensive files on political groups in the Bay Area.

Reikes was the head of the FBI’s terrorist squad who came to OPD
headquarters the day of the bombing to give the inflammatory briefing on
Earth First!

Sena was already engaged in a secret investigation of Earth First! and
concocted a fake informant tip.

Sims was an OPD homicide lieutenant in charge of other officers
investigating the bombing and the decision-maker for the unjust arrests of
the activists.

Sitterud ignored evidence at the scene and  concocted information that
would implicate the activists. Chenault wrote the first fraudulent search
warrant affidavit.

This verdict is a referendum against the FBI’s gross interference with
people’s right to dissent at a time when  Attorney General Ashcroft, FBI
Director Mueller and the Bush administration are arrogating huge power to
themselves and the FBI to spy on legitimate groups and organizers and
infringe the Constitutional rights of the public.
The filled-out verdict form is available at
http://www.judibari.org/third_verdict_form_final.pdf###








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