On Wednesday, November 10th, three peace activists; Mark Colville, Brian
Kavanagh, and Cal Robertson, were sentenced to thirty days in jail. One
other, Hillel Arnold, was given a five hundred dollar fine that the court
remitted.
The four activists were being prosecuted for their actions on July 2nd,
when they entered Senator Lieberman's office around four oclock in the
afternoon, and asked to meet with Senator Lieberman to discuss the issue
of the UN/US sanctions on Iraq. When informed that they could not meet with the Senator, the four activists knelt in the office, read from scripture
and rang a bell every 12 minutes, signifying that another Iraqi child had
died. Around 4:30, officers from the Hartford police department arrested the activists, charging them with criminal trespass.
The trial started on November 1st with Judge Elizabeth Gallagher presiding
and George Ferko representing the state. The defendants all went pro se,
with court appointed standby council Christopher Eddy.
The prosecution called three witnesses, two policemen and James OConnell, the head of security at Lieberman's office. They testified to the fact that the defendants were in the office of Senator Lieberman and that they did not leave when ordered to.
The defendants all testified as to their various backgrounds and "state of
mind" when they were in Lieberman's office. Chris Allen-Doucot of
Hartford also testified about the situation in Iraq. Pictures that he had taken of Iraqi children were entered into evidence. The four defendants employed
the Necessity Defense, the basic idea of which is that property rights can be
trumped in cases of emergency. In order to prove this defense, there must
be a reasonable showing of three points: first, that there is no legal alternative to the action taken; second, that the situation is one of imminent danger or emergency; third, that there is a direct causal relationship between the action taken and a prevention of harm.
Judge Gallagher ruled that the defendants had not made enough of a showing on the third point to allow the necessity defense to go to the jury. The jury took half an hour to deliberate, and found all of the defendants
guilty.
Sentencing took place two days later. Although the maximum sentence for
criminal trespass is one year of incarceration, Prosecutor Ferko did not
recommend jail time for any of the defendants, saying that it would be a
waste of taxpayer dollars. He recommended a five hundred dollar fine
for Arnold, who was considered a first-time offender, and asked that it be
remitted. Since the other three defendants had a prior record, he
requested a conditional release for them, the conditions being that they would not violate state, local, or federal laws for a period of one year. All three defendants felt that they could not let their consciences be dictated by
the court, and so were sentenced to thirty days of incarceration.
