Socialist Action /July 2002
Earth First! / Judy Bari Trial - Landmark
victory for Civil Liberties
By MICHAEL SCHREIBER
In a landmark victory for civil liberties, on June 11, a jury determined
that members of the FBI and the Oakland Police Department must pay $4.4
million in damages to Daryl Cherney and to the estate of the late Judi Bari,
two organizers for Earth First! and its campaign to protect the old-growth
forests.
The FBI and police defendants had been charged in the six-week lawsuit
with fabricating and ignoring evidence about a 1990 car bomb attack, which
nearly killed Bari, and attempting to frame her and Cherney for the bombing.
"The jury exonerated us," Daryl Cherney exclaimed following
the verdict. "They found the FBI to be the ones in violation of the
law. The public needs to understand that the FBI can't be trusted. Ten jurors
got a good, hard look at the FBI, and they didn't like what they saw."
The outlook of the jury was made clear recently when one of the jurors,
Mary Nunn, spoke to the press soon after U.S. District Judge Claudia White
had lifted the three-week gag order she placed on the jury members. Nunn
indicated that the jury was not fooled by the government's shabby defense
case-even though the police and FBI agents continued to twist the truth
right up until the end of the trial.
"The FBI and Oakland [police] sat up there and lied about their
investigation," Nunn told the San Francisco Chronicle (July
3, 2002). "They messed up their investigation, and they had to lie
again and again to try to cover up. I'm surprised that they seriously expected
anyone would believe them."
"Police tried to blame their mistakes on the FBI, but the FBI was
trying to shove the blame right back," Nunn said. "No one in law
enforcement was willing to say 'we made a mistake" and stand up and
admit it."
The case showed that despite FBI claims that since the late 1970s they
had abided by "self-imposed guidelines" restricting their spy
activities, the agency had snooped on Bari and Cherney as late as November
1991. The FBI even compiled a database of some 600 people that Bari and
Cherney had called on the phone.
It was revealed, moreover, that the Oakland Police Department, through
its shadowy red squad, worked hand in hand with the FBI to infiltrate and
keep tabs on Bay Area political groups. A cop admitted on the stand that
the spy unit had kept files on some 300 activist organizations, including
20 environmental groups like Earth First!
This case is especially important in light of recent actions by the Bush
administration to further expedite the ability of the FBI to spy on and
harass U.S. citizens.
Tony Serra, one of the attorneys for the Earth First! plaintiffs, explained
that "the jury showed the rest of America that even in the face of
brutal terrorism [referring to the Sept. 11 catastrophe in New York], we
cannot discard the very civil liberties that make the country great. This
verdict encourages people who have been wronged to step forward and not
be fearful."
Alicia Littletree, a paralegal working for the plaintiffs, agreed: "This
case needs to be part of the context in the discussion about FBI powers.
It shows that the FBI has been looking at activists and tampering with their
protected activities. They've been doing it for decades, and we've got to
put a stop to it. Don't give the FBI more power to spy on people, because
instead of fighting terrorism they go after activists."
Meanwhile, much more work must be done if the circumstances behind the
1990 Judi Bari bombing are to be uncovered. Littletree, speaking on Pacifica
Radio's "Democracy Now!" the day after the verdict came in, indicated
that "we now have to move into a phase of ... looking for the real
perpetrators" of the bombing.
For more information, visit the lawsuit website at www.judibari.org.
Socialist Action /July 2002 |