REP. FARR / SANTA CRUZ:

Nassim Zerriffi accepted a plea bargain and was sentenced to three years probation plus community service and a fine for resisting arrest and misdemeanor assault on a police officer. The charges resulted from a melee sparked by police attacks on demonstrators last May 22, during a protest against the war on Yugoslavia and the Congressman's support for it. Jim Cosner, also facing a charge of resisting arrest, returns to court April 3. Steve Argue, serving a nine month sentence (see letter from jail, page 7) for felony battery and resisting arrest, is due to be released from jail June 13...

ARREST KISSINGER:

The former U.S. Secretary of State remains at large, while a sarcastic jurist of dubious legal education has split the verdict on four Toronto activists who sought to arrest the alleged war criminal while he was in Canada last May. The four members of Toronto Action for Social Change defended themselves against a charge of trespass. While all stipulated before trial to being present at the scene and taking part in the action, the judge acquitted mandy hiscocks and Brent Patterson and convicted Matthew Behrens and William Taylor, saying only the latter two were identified by police. The day got off to a rocky start when one of the defendants pleaded for the victims of Kissinger's crimes (instead of the standard guilty/not-guilty plea). Justice of the Peace Madame Napier asked, "Is this a joke?" When assured that it was not a joke, Napier then asked sarcastically, "Isn't there a courtroom 102 for people like this?" Courtroom 102, the defendants learned, is for people deemed "mentally unstable." The trial went downhill from there, concluding with hiscocks telling the judge, "You are rude," and the judge imposing a sentence of one year probation for the two convicts...

CROSS & SWORD:

Three Toronto Christians are publicly fasting the last three weeks of Lent, prior to a scheduled May 15 trial in provincial court on charges of "mischief over $5,000." Len Desroches, Rev. Dan Heap and Rev. Bob Holmes were arrested on Good Friday, 1999, after entering St. Paul's Anglican Church with the stated intent of removing an infamous sword from the cross on the designated "garrison" church's war memorial. Their action came at the end of a campaign of witness and dialogue with church elders, who ultimately rejected their demand that a disarmed cross be represented on the war memorial, symbolic of the church's renunciation of war. For information about a public event on the eve of the trial, contact Len Desroches at (416)975-4897...

COOK NUCLEAR POWER PLANT:

A probate judge was brought out of five years retirement at the last minute to conduct the jury trial of twelve people charged with trespass last summer at the Michigan nuke. Judge Wilbur Schillinger rejected their necessity defense, claiming the plant - shut down since 1997 - could not have been an imminent threat because no date had been set for a re-start at the time of the arrests. Furthermore, he claimed that letting a jury consider and possibly endorse such arguments would usurp state and federal authority over the nation's power plants. Denied their legal defense, the defendants debated their options for an hour and decided to all change their pleas to guilty. Each was then ordered to pay $150 in fines and costs. Some plan to appeal...

ALLIANTTECH:

A jury trial will begin April 24 in Hennepin County for people arrested at Minnesota's largest war contractor last November, following the Committing to Peace conference...

EUCOM:

Wolfgang Sternstein was due to be released from a German prison before April 10, following a 140 day sentence for de-fence actions at the U.S. military command...

PENTAGON AND WASHINGTON, D.C.:

Three men arrested at the Pentagon last December 28 were convicted in March trials, but the charge will be dismissed if they are not arrested again at the Pentagon during the next year. Others arrested at the White House the following day found that their charges were never filed. Felton Davis and Peter DeMott faced trial in February for arrests at the Pentagon last year. Their attorney, Sebastian Graber, argued against a ban on protesters on the Pentagon steps. After a day-long trial, the judge asked for written closing arguments and recessed the proceedings until he is prepared to enter a judgment. A date for announcing the verdict is not yet set. CORRECTION: The last issue of this newsletter reported in error that no arrests were made during a December 29 protest at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington. Three people were arrested when they tried to enter the building, and held overnight. The IMF chose not to prosecute...

PRINCE OF PEACE PLOWSHARES:

Mark Colville was summonsed to Federal Judge Carter's Maine courtroom February 3 for probation violation. Carter dismissed an earlier violation for Colville's refusal to pay restitution, and heard a new violation based on Colville's conviction for an anti-war sit-in at Senator Lieberman's office in Hartford. Colville responded that he was convicted not of a crime, but for an act of conscience, namely calling the government to account for its own criminal conduct. He requested a month to prepare for a full hearing, which was granted. He has not heard from the court since then...