Street Roots • Jan. 22-28, 2016
News
Page 11
TRIAL, from page 10
to blow it out like a birthday cake ... There’s
the Delta 5 “are tireless advocates who we
plenty of things that you could do to that
need in this society to prevent the kind of
fire. The question is: are any of those things
catastrophic effects that we see coming and
actually going to save the life of that child?”
that our politicians are ineffectually
Mazza articulated the same point during
addressing.”
oral argument on Jan 14, observing:
Despite this, he emphasized that he was
“The critical word here is ‘effective.’ In a
bound by precedent, and therefore
limited sense, as I testified, I’ve personally
instructed the jury to ignore the expert
seen effects of my
testimony that
work over the years
summarized those
on climate and clean
catastrophic effects
energy. But is it
and the urgent action
effective in terms of it "Because of the way the
that will be needed to
being a proportional
address them - in
political system has been
response to what is
effect, instructing the
twisted and rigged by large
demanded, what is
jury to temporarily
corporations,
in
this
case
the
needed, to truly
join the political
fossil fuel corporations, we
address the issue?
mainstream, ignoring
haven't, we cannot act, it is not the warnings of
And I have to say it’s
reasonable to expect the system scientists and safety
not. Because of the
way the political
to act in proportion to what we experts.
system has been
In his closing
really need to accomplish."
twisted and rigged by
statement to the
J. PATRICK MAZZA
large corporations, in '
court, Mazza
C L IM A T E C H A N G E A C T IV IS T
this case the fossil
addressed the jury,
fuel corporations, we
arguing that their
haven’t, we cannot
decision did not
act, it is not
actually depend on
ince 1998 I have worked professionally
reasonable to expect
the judge. “Ultimately
advancing solutions to the climate
you don’t have to explain your decision to
crisis,” said Patrick Mazza, a co-founder of the system to act in proportion to what we
really need to accomplish.
anyone,” he said. “No one can second-guess
Climate Solutions. “I have spent a lot of
“Direct action is kind of a shock to the
you. You can’t get into trouble for any
time sitting in front of a computer trying to
system. It’s a piece of dissonance, it’s a
decision you make. As the judge just told
stop global warming. But after many years
friction, that sets up a dynamic, that focuses
you, you’re the sole judge of what you’ve
of seeing the climate crisis only worsen, it
attention, that shows that people are willing
heard.”
was time to sit in front of a train.”
to take extraordinary risk, that people are
He added, “We don’t have a computer
DeChristopher criticized the judge’s
willing to potentially suffer jail and prison
sitting in he|e, we have human beings.”
reasoning Friday evening, comparing it to
time, fines, probation and all the downsides k Minutes barker, the prosecuting attorney
th e ‘Nuremberg defense’.
that come with having a criminal record.
Adam Sturdivant had told the jury, “You
“The judge disregarded the question of
People are prepared to do that because they must not let your emotions overcome your
sufficiency,” DeChristopher argued.
see that the system they’re up against is not rational thought process.”
Discussing the classic case of breaking a
capable of responding proportionally to the
Although the defendants have not yet
door to save someone in a burning building,
threat we face.”
DeChristopher argued “there’s plenty of
made any formal declaration, Brockway said
other alternatives ... you could call your
DeChristopher said Judge Howard’s
she is very much looking forward to an
rural fire department that might be 15
statements also reinforced the point that
appeals trial, and believes they will have a
minutes away and hope that they get there
the government is unable to deal with the
better chance at winning in a higher court,
in time, you could throw a bucket of water
climate crisis. When announcing his
where existing precedent can be challenged.
from the stream that’s nearby, you could
rejection of the necessity defense, Judge
Local attorney Stu Sugarman, who has
pee on it, you could spit on it, you could try
Howard even acknowledged this, and said
represented political defendants in
necessity defense - but not the fourth. As a
result, he did not allow the jury to consider
whether the defendants acted out of
necessity. The next morning the jury
returned their verdict: the Delta 5 were
found guilty of trespassing and not guilty of
obstructing a train (the more serious
charge).
In the court recess that followed, three
jurors gathered with defendants and their
supporters in the halls of the courthouse,
thanking them for the action they took, and
telling them that they would have been
acquitted if a necessity instruction had been
given.
Hours later the judge handed down the
sentences: none would go to jail, but they
would all be on probation for two years.
Brockway explained after the trial, “It
wasn’t that we just decided to break the law
on a whim, but we tried everything else and
we felt like we had no other legal
alternative, and that is exactly why we had
to break the law - to enforce the law.”
S
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Multnomah County for the past 20 years,
said he has often won cases of civil
disobedience on the basis of both necessity
and freedom of speech.
In December 2007, Sugarman won a
necessity defense for a group called The
Seriously Pissed Off Grannies. On April 6,
2007, the group had held a silent vigil at a
U.S. Army and Marine recruiting center,
where they used red paint to put bloody
handprints on the building’s windows. The
Grannies argued they were stopping the
greater harm of killing young people in a
senseless war, and the jury agreed - with
the foreman openly criticizing the district
attorney’s office for bringing the
prosecution.
Reflecting on his success with The
Seriously Pissed Off Grannies, Sugarman
admited, “I can’t tell you the reason why the
Seriously Pissed Off Grannies got the
necessity defense, because we never
expected to win. But you argue it, and there
it was: the judge allowed us to argue it
before the jury ... and the jury agreed with
us: that the protesters should never have
been prosecuted because they were working
for a just cause. And it is just a beautiful
defense if the jury gets to consider i t I
couldn’t tell you of any magic wand we
waved to make it work. Sometimes the
judge agrees with you ... and that’s i t ”
No one can predict whether the Delta 5
will win on appeal, or whether their
argument will gain ground in other parts of
the country. But like Portland’s fossil fuel
export ban, the action of the Delta 5 is
unprecedented, and what it lacks in
certainty, it makes up for by speaking
directly to the problem. As the effects of
climate change continue to stack up, and the
accepted ways of reforming policy fail, it
might be efforts like these that create
lasting change.
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