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The third week of testimony in the civil suit of Earth First v. The FBI and the Oakland Police Department came to a close Thursday evening with the plaintiffs feeling exuberant over early strides made in their case. 

“We’re kicking their ass,” said Darryl Cherney of Earth First! who was riding in a car along with Judi Bari that exploded due to a time-activated bomb in 1990.  

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“Or I should say they are kicking their own asses. The FBI and the Oakland Police Department have totally tangled themselves in their own lies.” 

Bari and Cherney were pursued as suspects in the bombing of Bari’s car and are now suing the FBI for their own vindication in this case, and to “clear the name of Earth First!” 

Last week’s trial included emotional testimony from Lisa Bari, Judi Bari’s 21-year-old daughter. Bari testified to years of watching her mother and the home she shared with her mother searched by FBI agents. According to Earth First! attorneys her testimony goes to show that her mother was being pursued as a viable suspect. 

The defense in this case has countered that Cherney and Bari were being viewed as both suspects as well as witnesses.  

According to Joseph Sher, Department of Justice lead counsel , when an individual is being treated as a victim as well as a suspect it may vary the FBI’s line of questioning and it necessitates a more sophisticated treatment of the crime. 

Sher would not speak to why the FBI first started to view Bari and Cherney as being suspects in their own car bombing, but both sides concede that proving that element of the argument will be essential to the outcome of this case. 

“We have to do three things to win this case,” Cherney said. “We have to prove our innocence, which we’ve done.”  

Cherney went onto say that he doubts that any member of the jury actually believes that either he or Bari intentionally blew themselves up. 

“The second thing we have to do is prove they’ve lied, which we’ve done,” he added. 

Thursday’s court proceedings included the testimony from officers and special agents who were first on scene on May 23, 1990 the day that Bari’s car was bomb. It included the testimony of a special agent from the FBI, who requested a search warrant from the Oakland Police Department and the officer who issued the paperwork to grant the search warrant. The testimony from these two officers conflict with statements that were made 10 years ago and each other. 

Carpenter nails were reportedly found in Bari’s car, and according to the Oakland Police Department the FBI instructed them that these nails were identical to those that were used in the making of the car bomb, and that fact was used as a basis for the Oakland Police Department granting a search warrant. 

However, according to Special Agent Phil Sena this is not the case. 

“I never would have told them that,” he said. 

At several points during the case the two defendants — The FBI and the Oakland Police Department — have appeared to be at odds with each other. At one point, the police department’s attorney even objected to a line of questioning between Sher and an FBI Special Agent. 

“It has been a long time,” said Sher. “And recollections change.” 

Sher would not comment on whether it was part of his argument that Oakland Police Department was more liable in the civil suit. 

Cherney, however, said he thought that both defedants were attempting to “blame the other guy” in order to exonerate themselves. 

Earth First! attoreny Denniss Cunningham said it was their position that the Oakland Police Department were less responsible of the two parties but not innocent. 

“It is our position that they allowed themselves to be lied to. They were willing dupes in this and that does not mean they are innocent,” Cunningham said. 

This week also included the testimony from the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s office who were allegedly called in to help spy on Earth First! 

“The third thing we have to do to win this case is prove there was no basis for the FBI to think that we made that bomb, which will be the hardest part of the case. We have to prove that even though we were hard core and sometime out there activist that we were not violent people,” Cherney said. 

Next week the plaintiff’s will begin this, the last phase of their civil case and the jury will hear testimony from Cherney as well as videotaped testimony from Bari herself that was recorded only five weeks before her death to breast cancer in 1997. 

“The FBI kept trying to delay her deposition. They were basically waiting to depose her after she died. But she finally gave her deposition five weeks before her death.” 

Next week will be the first time that the jury will have heard from the victim’s themselves and will likely be very important emotional elements of the case seeing that a large part of this case is directly related to witness credibility. 

The first phase of the defendant’s case is expected to include the testimony of Gary Philip of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department. Philip, in his deposition, has stated that Earth First! has various factions and that some of the individuals in the environmental organization are very capable of violent acts of terrorism. 

The defense will also try to lay the groundwork to prove to the jury that members of Earth First! were responsible for the bombing of power lines in Northern California. This will go to prove that the Earth First! membership had the ability to make explosives and had done so. 

Week four’s witness list will also include Special Agents John Conway, Steward Daley and Stockton Buck of the FBI as well as Kevin Griswold, of the Oakland Police Department.  

Contact reporter: 

devona@berkeleydailyplanet.net