On June 10, a Kitsap County, Washington jury found eight activists who peacefully blocked traffic into Bangor Nuclear Submarine Base on August 9th, 1998, not guilty. After hearing two days of testimony by defendants Marie Bernard, Mary Gleysteen, Anne Hall, MacKnight Johnson, Bernard Meyer, Glen Milner, George Rodkey, and Brian Watson, the jury returned with their acquittal in less than four hours.
In an unusual instruction, District Court Judge James Riehl told the jury to consider in their deliberations the fact that International Treaties supersede local, state, and federal laws. Defense attorney Kenneth Kagan noted in his closing statement that the verdict of the jury might be a referendum of how deeply committed Kitsap County remains to providing a haven for nuclear weapons. Defendant Bernard Meyer, who represented himself, made the case for following a moral obligation to intervene when faced with weapons of mass destruction.
The trial was both deeply intellectual and emotional. Defendant Brian Watson of Bremerton presented excerpts from the Hague Convention of 1907, the Nuremberg Principles, and the 1996 World Court ruling on the illegality of nuclear weapons. Defendant Anne Hall of Seattle referenced former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark in saying that “sometimes the only way people can be heard is to step across the line.” The presiding juror of the jury was visibly emotional after the verdict was delivered, stating that she was “proud to sit with these people.”
For more information, contact Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, 16159 Clear Creek Road NW, Poulsbo, WA, 98370.