Miami federal judge tosses U.S. case against Greenpeace
by Ann W. O'Neill and David Fleshler
Staff Writers
Posted May 20 2004
A federal judge in Miami on Wednesday acquitted the environmental group Greenpeace of illegally boarding a ship to bring attention to its cargo, 70 tons of mahogany cut from the Amazon rain forest.
U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan ruled that prosecutors had presented insufficient evidence to send the case to the jury. He granted Greenpeace lawyers' request for a directed verdict of acquittal on the ship-boarding charge and a conspiracy count.
It was the first time a public interest group had been indicted for the protest activities of its members. Activist groups across the country were watching the case because of its potential to chill political speech.
According to testimony, two Greenpeace activists used a rope ladder to climb aboard the Jade on April 12, 2002. They and four others were arrested, spent a night in jail, and paid fines. More than a year later, federal prosecutors indicted Greenpeace itself.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/miami/sfl-cgreenpeace20may20,0,4867255.story?coll=sfla-news-miami~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A lot of people have watched this case with complete bewilderment from the moment we learned Ashcroft had made the move to use a rare legal oddidty from the 1800's to charge them.
This case has been knocking around for two years, and
Bush's administration claims it's going to try to get this overturned. Hope they'll lose AGAIN. This is a stupid, nasty, sneaky way to do bidness.