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Edited on Thu Aug-04-05 11:46 AM by fighttotheend
Bush vs. Greenpeace
Print Send The Bush administration's attempt to use an obsolete "sailormongering" law to prosecute Greenpeace failed when the judge dismissed the charges in the midst of the trial.
Greenpeace USA was under threat of being declared a criminal organization.
In April 2002, six Greenpeace activists took action to save our forests. After two of them boarded a commercial ship which was bringing illegal mahogany into the port of Miami, Florida, they pleaded guilty, were fined and sentenced to "time served" - the weekend they all spent in jail. The judicial process had run its course.
Or so we thought...
Fifteen months later Greenpeace USA headquarters in Washington was served notice that the U.S. Attorney General's office would be prosecuting the entire organization for the action - the first time in history that the U.S. Government has prosecuted an advocacy group for a free-speech related activity.
We were being prosecuted under an obscure 1872 law against "sailormongering." The bizarre law was originally designed to discourage owners of inns and brothels from boarding ships, as they are about to enter port, in order to lure the sailors into their establishments. It has only been used twice in its history.
Ultimately, the Bush administration's case against us was thrown out of court. Judge Adalberto Jordan acquitted us after accepting our claim that the U.S. government provided insufficient evidence to the court.
OH, BY THE WAY --Greenpeace Acquitted: Judge Finds Greenpeace Not Guilty in Landmark Free Speech Case
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