Features

Feds, Oakland Settle 1990 Earth First! Bombing Suit 

The City of Oakland and the U.S. Department of Justice ran up the white flag Thursday, agreeing to pay $2 million each to settle a suit filed by two Earth First! activists injured in a 1990 Oakland car bombing. 

The lawsuit was filed in 1991 by Judi Bari and Darryl Chaney, who were in Oakland to generate support for their campaign to save old growth redwoods when a nail bomb exploded inside the car in which they were riding. 

Bari—left paralyzed by the blast—was arrested in her hospital bed, and she and Chaney were held on suspicion of possessing and transporting explosives. 

The Alameda County District Attorney refused to press the prosecution, and no federal charges were ever filed. Bari died from breast cancer six years later, but the suit was continued on behalf of her two daughters. 

The two environmentalists charged that county and federal investigators made false and misleading statements in their search warrant affidavits and lied about matching the round-headed nails in the bomb to flat-headed nails found in Bari’s home. 

In 1992, a federal civil jury found in favor of the activists, but the awards were withheld pending appeals by the losing law enforcement agencies. 

Thursday’s settlement was reached after the agencies agreed to abandon their appeals. 

Bay City News contributed to this report. 

—Richard Brenneman 

D.A. Drops Port Anti-War Protest Charges 

The Alameda County District Attorney’s office dropped charges against the 24 remaining people who were being prosecuted for participation in the anti-war protest at the Oakland docks in April of 2003. 

According to a report by Bay City News, the charges were dropped by the district attorney’s office because the protesters had not been charged with any new violations since the protest last year, and because there had been three lawful and peaceful anti-war protests since the protest at the docks.  

Bobbi Stein, the lead attorney for the defendants, was also quoted by Bay City News as saying, “The prosecution didn’t have any evidence against protesters and the defendants would have prevailed at a trial.” 

The protesters were facing misdemeanor charges of creating a public a public nuisance, failure to disperse, and interfering with a business. 

—Jakob Schiller 

State Panel Recommends Diebold Ban In Four California Counties 

The California Voting Systems and Procedures Panel recommended in an 8-0 vote Thursday that Secretary of State Kevin Shelly ban four counties from using 15,000 Diebold Election System Inc. voting machines in the November election. The counties affected include San Diego, Solano, Kern and San Joaquin. 

Diebold manufactures the touch screen voting machines used in Alameda County. 

The panel’s decision came after Diebold admitted the obvious: that the company has provided several counties in California with machines that have serious security flaws and that have helped disenfranchise voters. 

  The voting panel is set to make a recommendation about thousands of other Diebold machines used in 10 other California counties next Wednesday. It could not be verified before press time whether Alameda county will be one of the counties affected.  

—Jakob Schiller 

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