Jury awards $4.4 million to Earth First! activists
On June 11, 2002, a federal jury returned a stunning victory in favor of Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney in their landmark civil rights lawsuit against four FBI agents and three Oakland police Department officers. The jury clearly found that six of the seven defendants framed Judi and Darryl in an effort to crush Earth First! and chill participation in Redwood Summer. Only the third jury trial in a civil rights case against the FBI, the $4.4 million in damages awarded in this case was the highest ever. In 1981 a $1.85 million settlement was paid to the family of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, killed during an FBI instigated raid in Chicago in 1969. The FBI also paid $3.1 million to settle a suit by the family of Vicky Weaver, shot by an FBI sniper at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
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Court Drawing Photo: Illustration: K. Rudin
