re-post from last year 2002
Jury finds FBI & police lied/framed activists. $4.4M Award
4.4M Earth First! Award
Jury finds that FBI, Oakland police framed Darryl Cherney and Judi Bari in the 1990 bombing of their Subaru
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/06/11/state1548EDT0108.DTLJury awards Earth First! activists $4.4 million
(06-11) 12:56 PDT OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) --
Twelve years after they were arrested in the bombing of their own car, two Earth First! activists were awarded about $4.4 million Tuesday in a federal suit claiming they were framed by Oakland Police and FBI agents.
After 17 days of deliberations, jurors 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 while they were driving in Oakland in May 1990. Bari, who was at the wheel, suffered a crushed pelvis.
The two were arrested within hours, but the case fell apart weeks later when prosecutors said there wasn't enough evidence to bring charges.
Cherney and Bari sued investigators for false arrest, illegal search, slanderous statements and conspiracy. They claimed officials ignored evidence exonerating the activists and lied to try to make their case...
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The list of defendants eventually was narrowed down to seven former and current FBI agents and Oakland policemen. Jurors were asked to determine whether investigators deliberately violated the pair's Fourth Amendment rights against false arrest and illegal searches. They also were asked to determine if investigators chilled Cherney and Bari's free speech rights by portraying them as chief suspects in the bombing, casting a cloud over whatever they had to say.
"You've got to send a message that the lies and false claims in this case will never happen to someone else," plaintiffs' attorney J. Tony Serra said in his closing argument.
The case began April 9 with attorneys for the activists trying to show that investigators were "out to get" Cherney and Bari. For instance, investigators said the bomb was in the rear of the car, where it would have been visible to Cherney and Bari. But an FBI analysis showed the bomb was shoved under the front seat.
......Lawyers for the activists had tried to argue that the FBI has a history of targeting activists. They wanted to introduce testimony about the FBI counterintelligence program -- COINTELPRO -- that investigated groups such as the Black Panthers in the 1960s and early '70s. However, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken rejected that effort
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quote -
"I didn't realize I was important until they made me shut up."
- Tommy Smothers