Posted on 04/28/2005 8:33:07 PM PDT by Cultural Jihad
Pepper-sprayed Humboldt activists awarded $1 each by jury
By JUSTIN M. NORTON, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Humboldt County and Eureka law enforcement officers were found liable Thursday of using excessive force when they swabbed pepper spray on the eyes of nonviolent logging protesters during a 1997 protest.
The jury only awarded the eight plaintiffs $1 each in the case. The was the third trial after the first two ended in deadlocked juries in 1998 and 2004.
The plaintiffs laughed and hugged in the courthouse hallways after the verdicts were read and applauded when jurors left their chambers.
"They did the right thing," said plaintiff Terri "Compost" Slanetz, a 42-year-old naturalist from Oakland. "We've been trying all along to get a statement that this was illegal. It's a positive step toward people treating each other decently."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
PUH-thetic.
Still the wrong decision....the should have left those protestors chained to the trees until now.
The problem is: To buy a half-decent clue these days'll run ya $1.75.
These plaintiffs will remain clueless.
It says they were on private property, is it not legal to shoot trespassers there?
How is that supposed to be something that would bring out the warm and fuzzies in the local cops?
This bunch of activists are hateful, hurtful people who should have been taken to the countyline and told to not come back.
Terri "Compost" Slanetz. Decaying organic matter.
Does that mean that they sprayed them, or did they go up to them with swabs?
Not all lawbreakers deserve summary executions, IMHO. There are higher values involved.
The put some on Q-tips and touched the Q-tip in the corner of their eyes.
It might have been better (provided the floor was not carpeted) to dump a big bucket of 'outhouse effluent' on the floor, and let it pool.
Or bad clams. Or a spitoon. Or just bring a big box of rotting fish into the room and let it sit.
That's the kind of thing my dad would have done.
How much did the lawyers get?
It sounds like inflation: Henry Ford won a libel suit against the Chicago Tribune but the jury only awarded him six cents for damages. ;-)
I've seen these types doing their protests in San Francisco, and they are certainly deluded. Someone should have told them that the building they were squatting in was constructed with dead tree carcasses, and their spirits haunt anyone residing inside and bring bad karma.
That's the problem, the $1 award will enable the lawyers to get their fees paid in full because their clients 'prevailed'.
A dollar won't buy much Humbolt Happy-weed.
"activists are hateful, hurtful people who should have been taken to the countyline and told to not come back."
--> Can't they just have a little "Logging " accident?
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