For Immediate
Release: Skagit Jury Refuses to
Convict First “Valve-Turner”, Vindicates Climate Threat
February 1st, 2017
CONTACT:
Jay
O’Hara, 774-313-0881, jay@climatedisobedience.org
Marla
Marcum, 781-475-0996, marla@climatedisobedience.org
Mt Vernon, WA - In a resounding
recognition of the threat of climate change, a Skagit County jury has refused
to convict Ken Ward of two felony counts stemming from an act of civil
disobedience in October of last year. After more than five hours of deliberation,
Ward’s three-day trial ended in a hung jury, with at least one juror refusing
to convict.
“In five hours, the jury was
unable to decide that with all of the evidence against me, including the video
of me closing the valve, that this was a crime. I didn’t contest a single piece
of the evidence, only presented my story and evidence of catastrophic climate
change. This is a tremendous outcome.,” said Ken Ward after the decision.
The trial was closely watched as
the first in a series stemming from pipeline protests last October. The outcome
of Ward’s trial is a powerful victory for the group who call themselves the
“ValveTurners.” On October 11th 2016, Ward closed an emergency block valve on
Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain Pipeline, which transports tar sands from Canada
to Washington refineries. The action, coordinated with four others across the
country, was described by Reuters as “the biggest
coordinated move on U.S. energy infrastructure ever undertaken by environmental
protesters.”The Valve Turners’ action stopped the equivalent of 15%
of the amount of oil burned in the United States in a single day. Ward was
charged with two felonies, sabotage and burglary, and faced up to 20 years
imprisonment and $40,000 in fines had he been convicted.
Leonard Higgins, who in coordination with Ward and three
other valve turners, shut off the flow of Spectra Energy’s Express tar sands
pipeline in Montana, said, “I’m so excited to see that the jury recognized the
integrity, honor and patriotism of Ken Ward, and recognized that what he did
was done for all of us. I’m looking forward to presenting the same case to a
jury in Montana.”
Ward broadcast
his action, which included cutting two chains to enter a TransMountain block
valve site and closing the valve. Ward did not contest the facts of his
actions. In a pre-trial hearing, presiding judge Michael Rickert denied Ward’s
request to mount a “necessity defense”
and call expert witnesses to testify about the dangers associated with climate
change, including its threat to civilization. Despite this, Ward’s defense
consisted exclusively of his motivation to confront the threat of climate
change, and the defense did not contest a single piece of evidence brought by
the prosecution. Several exhibits demonstrating climate science and impacts and
the role of civil disobedience in societal change were permitted as evidence.
Ward himself was the only witness called by the defense. The jury deliberated
while looking at charts demonstrating the dramatic increase of greenhouse
gasses in the atmosphere and the impacts of sea-level rise to Skagit County.
Emily Johnston, valve turner on
one of Enbridge’s two tar sands pipelines in Minnesota remarked, “This trial
was about climate change. The prosecution presented only information about what
Ken did on October 11, and Ken and the defense presented only information about
climate change, so the only decision that the jury was making was which story
mattered more. And the story of the climate crisis won.”
After over five hours of
deliberation, the jury failed to come to a unanimous verdict. Since the jury
could not agree on a verdict, Judge Rickert declared a mistrial. Prosecutors could attempt to try Ward again,
but for now the “valve-turners” are savoring their victory and vindication by a
jury of Ken’s peers.
Marla Marcum, Director of the
Climate Disobedience Center, said, “this outcome shows that the conscience of
the community, despite this being a refinery town, understands the climate
threat, understands in their hearts that the valve turners are right, and when
people of conviction stand up to do what is right, people are moved.”
Also watching today’s decision
are the 52 people arrested in Skagit County blocking oil-trains during last
April’s Break Free protests. Schedules in Skagit County Court are packed as
thirty-nine of them head to trials starting tomorrow and lasting into mid-March.
Dozens of Skagit residents will hear similar cases to Ward’s over the next few
months and will be asked to make a similar decision.
For more information visit www.shutitdown.today
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