Posted on 09/12/2008 10:25:45 PM PDT by vadum
A green British jury has perverted an ancient legal right, using it to excuse eco-terrorism.
As The Independent reports:
The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage.This turns the rationale for jury nullification on its head.Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a "lawful excuse" to damage property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage caused by climate change. The defence of "lawful excuse" under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage - such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire.
The not-guilty verdict, delivered after two days and greeted with cheers in the courtroom, raises the stakes for the most pressing issue on Britain's green agenda and could encourage further direct action.
Kingsnorth was the centre for mass protests by climate camp activists last month. Last year, three protesters managed to paint [prime minister] Gordon Brown's name on the plant's chimney. Their handi-work cost £35,000 to remove.
Some legal thinkers say jurors in criminal proceedings have the right to acquit defendants if they believe that a conviction would be in some way unjust. Thomas Jefferson suggested as much when he wrote, "I consider [trial by jury] as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution."
But nullification has traditionally been used when a government has prosecuted under a law deemed unjust, not to excuse common vandalism.
Does this mean it's now acceptable for enviro-terrorists to attack whatever building or site they blame for global warming?
Even more frighteningly, will this madness spread to America?
(For more on eco-terrorism, read "Eco-Terrorism: When Violence Becomes An Environmentalist Tactic," by John Berlau, Organization Trends, February 2007.)
The Leftists whine they want us to be more like Euro’s. BS
That scumbag James Hansen should get the bill for rectifying all property damage resulting from every criminal act that follows from this absurd verdict, and he should be charged as an accessory in every every future criminal act inspired by his advocacy of lawless behavior.
This decision will be overturned almost instantaneously when the first mosque (aka ‘terrorist training centre’) is burned to the ground on the basis of Islamofascism being a greater threat to the peace and tranquility of the United Kingdom, thereby justifying arson.
Hmmm. I view islamists as an immediate danger to mankind......
Isn’t this how Howard Roark got off in the Fountainhead?
Howard Roark wasn’t an eco-terrorist.
The bureaucrats broke their contract with him when they appropriated, and perverted, his work if I recall correctly. He destroyed his creation rather than leaving it to be wrecked by the parasites.
Anyhow, any of you Ayn Rand fans who haven’t already need to find yourself a copy of Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution. It’s a collection of great articles about the ways the eco-fascists seek control over every facet of our lives, in the name of the environment (I believe it’s also published under the title The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution).
This is what vigilantes are for.
btt
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