The Washington Court of Appeals today ruled against a group of defendants known as the Delta 5, who had attempted to present a climate necessity defense in the criminal trial stemming from their 2014 blockade of coal and oil trains in Washington state. While the court found that the defendants had not provided enough evidence...
Climate Defense Project April 23, 2018 Contact: Ted Hamilton, (847) 859-9572; info@climatedefenseproject.org In a high-profile victory for climate activists and lawyers, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled today that four protesters may present their climate necessity defense at trial. The decision — which rebuffed prosecutors’ attempts to keep the defense out of court — allows...
March 28, 2018 Contact: Alice Cherry, (847) 859-9572, info@climatedefenseproject.org. In a victory for the climate movement yesterday, Judge Mary Ann Driscoll of the West Roxbury District Court in Massachusetts found 13 activists not responsible for charges stemming from a 2016 protest against the West Roxbury Lateral Pipeline. Judge Driscoll found that the defendants were motivated by...
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 22, 2018 Contact: Alice Cherry, 847.859.9572 One week prior to trial, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office has abandoned its plans to prosecute the remaining Resist the Pipeline defendants, downgrading all criminal charges to civil infractions and moving the cases out of its jurisdiction. The defendants, who had blocked...
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 22, 2018 Contact: Kelsey Skaggs, 510.883.3118 Fort Benton, MT — Valve-turner and CDP client Leonard Higgins was sentenced on Tuesday for his part in a coordinated protest that shut down the flow of Canadian tar sands oil into the United States in order to fight climate change. A judge in...
In a big step forward for the climate necessity defense, a Washington trial court has issued a written decision allowing a defendant to assert the defense against charges stemming from a protest against the transportation of dangerous fossil fuels. In 2016, Reverend George Taylor participated in an action by Veterans for Peace and Raging Grannies...
CDP Executive Director Kelsey Skaggs appeared at the University of Oregon School of Law to discuss the climate necessity defense. Her co-panelists included law professor Lance Long and climate activists Tim DeChristopher and Emily Johnston. The event was part of the annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference.
107 law professors, along with the Society of American Law Teachers, filed an amicus brief in the Minnesota v. Johnston et al. case today. The brief was submitted as part of an appeal of the trial court’s order granting the defendants permission to present the necessity defense at trial. Covering topics including the First Amendment,...
Climate Defense Project Fort Benton, MT November 22, 2017 Fort Benton, MT — After a judge denied his right to present a full defense, climate activist Leonard Higgins was convicted today of criminal trespass and criminal mischief for shutting off a tar sands pipeline in Montana last year. His action was part of a coordinated...
Climate Defense Project Berkeley, CA November 20, 2017 On Friday, Climate Defense Project (CDP) filed a first-of-its kind brief in a Washington state climate necessity case, arguing that the government’s failure to protect the climate under the public trust doctrine justifies activists’ use of direct action. The brief argues that state and federal authorities are...
