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When environmental activist Darryl Cherney returned home from vacation this week, he was delighted to hear that his legal victory over the FBI and Oakland Police Department had been confirmed by a federal judge. 

“We’re really pleased. The judge didn’t even alter, or even worse, reverse the verdict,” Cherney said. 

A 10-person jury in June awarded $4.4 million in damages to the activist and fellow plaintiff, the late Judi Bari, who alleged that the FBI and Oakland police had violated their civil rights by treating them as suspects in a 1990 East Bay car bombing. On Aug. 13, U.S District Court Judge Claudia Wilken made the jury’s decision official. 

The judge’s actions clear the way to legal challenges, for which both sides have recently begun planning in hopes of landing a more favorable settlement. 

“We’d like to see the judge reverse the decision or have the trial thrown out,” said Maria Bee, the Oakland deputy city attorney who defended the police department. 

On the flip side, Cherney wants to see more law enforcement agents charged and greater damages awarded. 

Neither side has formalized a challenge yet. 

Post-trial motions, which serve to question the court proceedings, are due within the month and are scheduled to be heard by Wilken on Nov. 1. Appeals can be filed only after the post-trail motions have been addressed. 

The June verdict, which Cherney and supporters touted as a huge blow to law enforcement credibility, found three Oakland police officers and three FBI agents guilty of First and Fourth amendment rights violations. 

Illegal search, false arrest and conspiracy were among the charges made by Cherney and Bari following the 1990 explosion in Bari’s Subaru station wagon in Oakland which led to their arrest.  

Oakland police and the FBI claimed at the time that Cherney and Bari, members of politically active Earth First!, had accidentally detonated their own bomb. Oakland police said that FBI agents had believed the two were tied to domestic terrorism. 

Charges were never filed against the two, and instead the activists painted a government conspiracy against them and their environmental cause, which led to their successful suit this year. 

In the June verdict, only Cherney’s false arrest charge was not upheld by jurors. The 10-member panel was hung over the issue, which would normally require a retrial. But Cherney, who now lives in Humboldt County, said he would drop the charge as long as no surprises came up during the appeal process. 

- Contact @Kurtis@berkeleydailyplanet.net