A victory for civil rights, as well as forest defense, was handed down in April of this year: a federal jury returned a unanimous verdict for the Q-Tip Pepper Spray Eight activists/plaintiffs, finding the County of Humboldt and City of Eureka liable for excessive force in violation of the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The movie closes with the exciting trial victory, yet in real life there's always follow-up to any hard-fought-for success. Now the legal wrangling and wrap-up of the case continues slowly.
Judge Ilston has stated that she agrees that the activists' attorneys are due some amount of costs and fees for the long haul of eight years, but how much and when remains to be seen, and it may be a year or two more. The law enforcement defendants are stubbornly resisting the message of the jury and are set to appeal everything, though the activists only received $1 each monetarily. We will stick through all the appeals they throw at us to make sure everyone's rights are protected, forest and human alike.
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Go to www.nopepperspray.org to find out more!
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TOC for Forest & River News, Fall 2005