Minutes ago, all the SHAC 7 (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty) defendants were found guilty on all charges.
Court is in recess at the moment, but when it resumes, a
decision will be made as to which of the convicted activists will be
remanded into police custody immediately and which will be given some time to report for incarceration. Sentencing has not yet taken
place. Additional details to follow.
Additional Shac 7 info:
http://www.shac7.com/
http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=2719227&Mytoken=20040915021901
OR CONTACT THE SHAC7 SUPPORT COMMITTEE:
UPDATES@SHAC7.COM
>> MAKE A DONATION TO THE SHAC 7 DEFENSE FUND:
SHAC 7 c/o
NJARA
PO Box 174
Englishtown, NJ 07726
or donate online at
http://www.guidestar.org/controller/searchResults.gs?action_donateReport=1&partner=networkforgood&ein=22-2849700
---------------------------------------------------------------
From CNN.com
Animal rights group guilty of inciting terror
Thursday, March 2, 2006; Posted: 4:22 p.m. EST (21:22 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/03/02/animal.rights.ap
TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- A federal jury on Thursday convicted an
animal rights group and six of its members of inciting violence and
terror during their campaign to shut down a company that uses animals to
test drugs and consumer products.
The group, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, maintained its actions
constituted free speech.
The government claimed the group, which goes by the acronym SHAC, used
its Web site to incite violence against people and institutions it
claimed were affiliated with the animal testing lab.
The lab, Huntingdon Life Sciences, is based in New Jersey and Britain.
The verdict came after about 14 hours of deliberations over three days
and followed a three-week trial before U.S. District Judge Anne E.
Thompson.
There was no audible reaction from the defendants or about a dozen of
their supporters in the courtroom.
SHAC, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and six of its members were
charged with animal enterprise terrorism, stalking and other offenses as
part of its five-year campaign against the lab.
First time law is used
The trial on the first charge, conspiracy to violate the Animal
Enterprise Protection Act, is believed to be the first since the law was
enacted in 1992, said the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles B.
McKenna.
The defense rested after just one day, and used testimony from the
group's president, Pamelyn Ferdin, a former child star who was the voice
of Lucy in the movies and TV specials based on the "Peanuts" comic
strip. She was not charged.
Ferdin, who also played Felix Unger's daughter Edna on "The Odd Couple"
TV comedy series, told jurors, "For the government to say you can't say
this and you can't say that is going down a very scary path of going
toward fascism."
Ferdin became leader of the group in 2004 after its former president,
Kevin Kjonaas and the others were indicted.
Also testifying was one of the defendants, Joshua Harper, who said that
he opposes injuring any life form, including human beings. But he also
said it is all right to throw rocks through someone's window as long as
the person is not home.
Also charged were Lauren Gazzola, Jacob Conroy, Andrew Stepanian and
Darius Fullmer.
Six-count indictment
The six-count indictment charged SHAC and its members with animal
enterprise terrorism, which carries a sentence of up to three years in
prison and a $250,000 fine.
SHAC and three of its members were also charged with multiple counts of
interstate stalking and conspiracy to engage in interstate stalking,
which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000
fine for each count.
The group and four of its members were charged with one count of
telephone harassment, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in
prison.
During the trial, the prosecution presented testimony showing that
SHAC's campaign against Huntingdon involved posting personal information
about its employees and those of firms that do business with the animal
testing company on the Web.
Many of those targeted have had their homes vandalized, and received
threats against them or their families, testimony revealed.
Under cross-examination by defense lawyers, prosecution witnesses
admitted they did not know who sent e-mails or faxes or made telephone
calls they had described as threatening.
----------------------------------------------------------------
For background on the group and the charges, see "Attack of the
Terrorist Fax" at:
http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/jones06152004
----------------------------------------------------------------
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty UK: http://www.shac.net
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty USA: http://www.shacamerica.net
----------------------------------------------------------------
The World's a shit hole. MAN is the Bastard.
decision will be made as to which of the convicted activists will be
remanded into police custody immediately and which will be given some time to report for incarceration. Sentencing has not yet taken
place. Additional details to follow.
Additional Shac 7 info:
http://www.shac7.com/ http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=2719227&Mytoken=20040915021901 OR CONTACT THE SHAC7 SUPPORT COMMITTEE:
UPDATES@SHAC7.COM >> MAKE A DONATION TO THE SHAC 7 DEFENSE FUND:
SHAC 7 c/o
NJARA
PO Box 174
Englishtown, NJ 07726
or donate online at
http://www.guidestar.org/controller/searchResults.gs?action_donateReport=1&partner=networkforgood&ein=22-2849700 ---------------------------------------------------------------
From CNN.com
Animal rights group guilty of inciting terror
Thursday, March 2, 2006; Posted: 4:22 p.m. EST (21:22 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/03/02/animal.rights.ap TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- A federal jury on Thursday convicted an
animal rights group and six of its members of inciting violence and
terror during their campaign to shut down a company that uses animals to
test drugs and consumer products.
The group, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, maintained its actions
constituted free speech.
The government claimed the group, which goes by the acronym SHAC, used
its Web site to incite violence against people and institutions it
claimed were affiliated with the animal testing lab.
The lab, Huntingdon Life Sciences, is based in New Jersey and Britain.
The verdict came after about 14 hours of deliberations over three days
and followed a three-week trial before U.S. District Judge Anne E.
Thompson.
There was no audible reaction from the defendants or about a dozen of
their supporters in the courtroom.
SHAC, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and six of its members were
charged with animal enterprise terrorism, stalking and other offenses as
part of its five-year campaign against the lab.
First time law is used
The trial on the first charge, conspiracy to violate the Animal
Enterprise Protection Act, is believed to be the first since the law was
enacted in 1992, said the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles B.
McKenna.
The defense rested after just one day, and used testimony from the
group's president, Pamelyn Ferdin, a former child star who was the voice
of Lucy in the movies and TV specials based on the "Peanuts" comic
strip. She was not charged.
Ferdin, who also played Felix Unger's daughter Edna on "The Odd Couple"
TV comedy series, told jurors, "For the government to say you can't say
this and you can't say that is going down a very scary path of going
toward fascism."
Ferdin became leader of the group in 2004 after its former president,
Kevin Kjonaas and the others were indicted.
Also testifying was one of the defendants, Joshua Harper, who said that
he opposes injuring any life form, including human beings. But he also
said it is all right to throw rocks through someone's window as long as
the person is not home.
Also charged were Lauren Gazzola, Jacob Conroy, Andrew Stepanian and
Darius Fullmer.
Six-count indictment
The six-count indictment charged SHAC and its members with animal
enterprise terrorism, which carries a sentence of up to three years in
prison and a $250,000 fine.
SHAC and three of its members were also charged with multiple counts of
interstate stalking and conspiracy to engage in interstate stalking,
which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000
fine for each count.
The group and four of its members were charged with one count of
telephone harassment, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in
prison.
During the trial, the prosecution presented testimony showing that
SHAC's campaign against Huntingdon involved posting personal information
about its employees and those of firms that do business with the animal
testing company on the Web.
Many of those targeted have had their homes vandalized, and received
threats against them or their families, testimony revealed.
Under cross-examination by defense lawyers, prosecution witnesses
admitted they did not know who sent e-mails or faxes or made telephone
calls they had described as threatening.
----------------------------------------------------------------
For background on the group and the charges, see "Attack of the
Terrorist Fax" at:
http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/jones06152004 ----------------------------------------------------------------
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty UK:
http://www.shac.net Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty USA:
http://www.shacamerica.net ----------------------------------------------------------------
The World's a shit hole. MAN is the Bastard.
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