Anti-Trident Activists Found Not Guilty.

• Author: SHAW, JEFF
• Position: Activists accused civil disobedience found not guilty - Brief Article

Port Orchard, Washington

Civil disobedience is a justified response to nuclear weapons, a six-member jury ruled on June 10. A district court found eight peace activists from the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in Poulsbo, Washington, not guilty of charges of disorderly conduct for blocking traffic at the Bangor Naval Submarine Base. The base is one of two locations where the U.S. government houses the Trident submarine, which carries twenty-four nuclear missiles bearing between five and eight warheads each.

On August 9, 1998--the fifty-third anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki--the activists sat in the middle of a four-lane highway to protest a planned $6.4 billion upgrade at the base. The upgrade would replace C-4 missiles with D-5 missiles, which are more accurate, carry more nuclear payload, and have greater range. Each activist faced a maximum penalty of ninety days in jail and $1,000 in fines if convicted of the misdemeanor charge.

Crucial to the verdict was Judge James Riehl's decision to instruct the jury on the role treaties play in the law. The defendants had argued that international treaties signed by the United States, such as the Nuremberg Principles of 1945, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968, and the International Court of Justice Rulings of 1996 gave them the authority to act against the menace of nuclear arms. "We kept coming back to the...