Judge declares mistrial in pepper spray trial

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Thu, Sep. 23, 2004

Judge declares mistrial in pepper spray trial

DAVID KRAVETS
Associated Press


SAN FRANCISCO - Nonviolent logging protesters who contend police went too far by swabbing pepper spray on their eyes want to retry their case again after a second federal jury deadlocked without reaching a decision.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston declared a mistrial Wednesday after jurors told her they were deadlocked and further deliberations were "pointless."

One of the plaintiffs who was swabbed with pepper spray while chained to a bulldozer, Mike McCurdy, 29, said the activists will push for another case.

"Obviously, we would like to have this issue settled," he said. "We believe the police crossed the line."

The jury voted 6-2 in favor of the activists, saying the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department abused the peaceful protesters in Northern California.
(snip/...)

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/9737549.htm
(Free registration required)

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No Pepper Spray On Nonviolent Protesters
www.nopepperspray.org


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* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International *

AI INDEX: AMR 51/67/97
4 NOVEMBER 1997
USA: Police Use of Pepper Spray
-- Tantamount to Torture
The use of pepper spray by police in California against peaceful protestors, including a 17-year old, is cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of such deliberateness and severity that it is tantamount to torture, Amnesty International said today following last Friday's videotape showing of Humboldt County Sheriff Department officers swabbing liquid pepper spray directly into the eyes of demonstrators.

The videotape -- made by the sheriff's office and played for reporters on 31 October as lawyers announced a lawsuit -- showed protestors sitting around a tree stump in Representative Frank Riggs' Eureka office on 16 October. The protestors screamed as deputies pulled back their heads, opened their eyes, and "swabbed" the burning liquid to their eyeballs. They were protesting against the destruction of redwood trees in Headwaters Forest in northern California. A 17-year-old protestor, whose eyelids were prised apart to apply the spray, described feeling acute pain and burning in the eyes after the spray was administered.

Video footage of a second incident, which took place at the Pacific Lumber Company headquarters in nearby Scotia on 25 September, showed two women protesters being swabbed in the eyes with liquid pepper spray. Police sprayed a third woman in the eyes at close range.
(snip)

http://www.nopepperspray.org/amnesty.htm

[ret5hd]

1. so, one quarter of the jury thinks torture of protestors is ok...

what was the percentage of people in the gen pop that thinks torture of prisoners is ok? wasn't it something around 25-30%?

with some fascists, no pain is enough.

[Bandit]

7. About the same amount thought the Rodney King beating was justified

also. There is an substantial element of society that is quite sadistic as long as it concerns someone else.

[electricmonk]

2. I still have that video on my computer

I cringe just thinking about it but every now and then I run into some one who doesn't believe me or thinks it wasn't all that bad. They usually change their mind after watching that clip though.

[G_j]

9. how anyone could watch the video

and not think that behavior is completely unacceptable is beyond me.
It is horrifying.

[BiggJawn]

3. Anybody wanna step up and defend "The Thin Blue Line"?

Can't blame 'em, after all, they lost "brothers" in NYC. they got no time for pussy domestic terra-ists....

<sarcasm>

And a deadlocked jury? Sounds like some likely members of Buzz Bush's new "Minute Men Marching Club" there...
"They's criminals! They got what they deserved! Hell, what's so hard to understand? Iffn you don't wanna get sprayed in the eyes, then don't break th' law! Duh! Rush sed dat! Gitterdun!"

[TX-RAT]

4. Can't defend.

I was with the sheriffs department for 21yrs.
I couldn't count the number of times I've had to spray someone. From what I've seen of that video, there was no reason for them to have swabbed the eyes. The only time i would use OC, was to get control of someone, who was out of control. They could have been removed without using OC.

[BiggJawn]

6. Agreed.

Seemed to be some kind of "retaliation" for having a conscience.

[el_gato]

5. Just another example of the real purpose of the police

Protecting facist corporate maggots while the rest of us are treated like slaves.

Yes, there are some cops with good intentions but as an institution they are not there for to protect and serve anybody but the merchant class oligarchy that created them to begin with. Don't believe me? Go do some research on how policing came to be.

[Gregorian]

8. Bingo! I learned this first hand.

Living only a couple of miles from where this happened, I also spend tons of time on logging property. I just go there to ride my bike. At any rate, I have been encountering Fish and Game. On a million acres, doing nothing but riding a bike, they stop me (on a Sunday morning, no less) and threaten to arrest me for tresspassing. The point is, I pay F&G's wage. Yet they are there to protect Pacific Lumber? If we pay Fish & Game, shouldn't it be FOR the people? They are worried only about lawsuits and protests. Funny thing is, in Oregon all logging land is open to the public. From what I understand, they don't harrass people for being on their trails. It's only since the protests that Pacific Lumber got mean.


By the way, yesterday I heard someone talking about why they were on the stand at that trial. He used to be a logger, but when the Wall Street company took over the logging here, he saw friend's retirement funds disappear. So this trial isn't just motivated over forests being destroyed, but about what happened to the employees.

Here's the funny part. I was talking to older people in the area who have stories about how incredible this place used to be. In 1969 I've heard the fish were so prolific, one could almost walk on water. There isn't a single fish, to speak of, in these rivers now. So I called fish and game to talk with them. I mean, what the hell do we even need them for, if there aren't fish nor game? I got a twenty minute spin that amounted to "they fucked up". Well, I say WE fucked up. This is all about how we live, in combination with population. I'll leave it at that. But I do not see any end in sight, with six billion all needing a house.