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In 1990, Earth First! organizers Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney were driving through Oakland as part of a drive to recruit volunteers for defense of the northern California redwood forests. A bomb exploded in their car, destroying the car and crippling Bari for life.
Within minutes, FBI and Oakland police officers were on the scene. They arrested Bari and Cherney for transporting explosives, despite the fact that the bomb was obviously aimed at killing them, and never attempted to investigate the case. (See back issues of The Partisan on our web site for more information.)
Last year, after the last government stalling attempts had failed and Bari had died of cancer, Bari and Cherney's lawsuit for false arrest and civil rights violations finally came to trial in federal court. The jury awarded Bari's estate and Cherney $4.4 million in damages.
The turning point came when an FBI "expert" testified that the bomb could not have been under the driver's seat, but admitted that he hadn't actually looked at the car. Unfortunately for the government, the jury had looked at it and knew that the explosion had taken place directly under the driver.
In Estate of Judi Bari v. Doyle the jury found that both the FBI and the City of Oakland had violated the First and Fourth Amendment rights of Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney, under the false cover of a "terrorist" investigation.
The verdict in this case sends a strong, cautionary message about the value of our constitutional rights and the abuse of law enforcement power in the name of national security.
This summer, the legal team for Bari and Cherney won the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ) Foundation's prestigious Trial Lawyer of the Year award for 2003 for its work on the case.
Solo practitioners Dennis Cunningham, J. Tony Serra, Robert Bloom and Ben Rosenfeld of San Francisco, and William A. Simpich of Oakland, California, along with William Goodman of New York and Michael E. Deutsch of the People's Law Office in Chicago, shared the nationally prestigious award with the lawyers who won a class-action victory for sweatshop workers in Saipan.
This award is bestowed annually upon the trial lawyer or lawyers who have made the greatest contribution to the public interest by trying or settling a precedent-setting case. It is the nation's single most prestigious award for trial lawyers.
"These exceptional attorneys offer powerful examples of how trial lawyers play a crucial role in exposing and redressing government intrusion and corporate misconduct," said outgoing Foundation President Paul Stritmatter. "We are proud to honor them for their exemplary work defending the Constitution and protecting workers' rights."
In late-breaking news, the city of Oakland has agreed to pay $2 million to settle its share of the liability. The FBI and their boss John Ashcroft are still stalling about their half of the proposed $4 million settlement.
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