I spent my morning in court today.
In August 2016 I joined an ongoing campaign against a natural gas pipeline construction project in West Roxbury, MA, and committed civil disobedience by illegally entering the site along with several other people. This campaign ultimately included almost 200 people who committed various forms of NVCD. While many people accepted plea bargains or minor penalties, thirteen of us continued to press for a jury trial, at which the Necessity Defense was to be used.
Ultimately the Commonwealth of Massachusetts reduced the penalties from Misdemeanors to “Civil Infractions” (the equivalent of a parking ticket), thus denying us the opportunity to present a full necessity defense to a jury.
But…
More than a dozen protesters who clambered into holes dug for a high pressure gas pipeline said they had been found not responsible by a judge after hearing them argue their actions to try and stop climate change were a legal “necessity”.
Karenna Gore, the daughter of former Vice President Al Gore, was among more than 198 people who were arrested because of their 2015 actions protesting the pipeline in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Thirteen people were to go on trial this week, though prosecutors downgraded their original criminal charges to one of civil infraction.
On Tuesday, Judge Mary Ann Driscoll of West Roxbury District Court, found all 13 defendants not responsible, the equivalent of not guilty in a criminal case. She did so after each of the defendants addressed the judge and explained why they were driven to try and halt the pipeline’s construction.
The Independent
Today we each made a case for our acts of civil disobedience to Judge Driscoll, in a series of short statements to the court. The collective testimonies of my fellow activists were deeply moving. I would like to think they affected Judge Driscoll as well.
(Incidentally, I can be seen on the video at the Independent report starting around 7:32.)
Tomorrow evening the defendants and the stellar support team from the Climate Disobedience Center will be participating in a live forum from 7-9 ET. If you’re in Jamaica Plain, MA, you’re welcome to come by — and if you’re elsewhere in the world, please join us in a live stream!