Contacts:
Jackie Hudson (360) 377-2586, Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action
Brian Watson, (360) 479-6399, (360) 698-3113

A Kitsap County, Washington jury yesterday found eight activists who peacefully blocked traffic into Bangor Nuclear Submarine Base on August 9^th, 1998, not guilty. After hearing two days of testimony by defendants Marie Bernard, Mary Gleysteen, Anne Hall, MacKnight Johnson, Bernard Meyer, Glen Milner, George Rodkey, and Brian Watson, the jury returned with their acquittal in less than four hours.

In an unusual instruction District Court Judge James Riehl told the jury to consider in their deliberations the fact that International Treaties supercede local, state, and federal laws. Defense attorney Kenneth Kagan in his closing statement noted that the verdict of the jury might be a referendum of how deeply committed Kitsap County remains to providing a haven for nuclear weapons. Defendant Bernard Meyer, who represented himself, made the case for following a moral obligation to intervene when faced with weapons of mass destruction.

The trial was both deeply intellectual and emotional. Defendant Brian Watson of Bremerton presented excerpts from the Hague Convention of 1907, the Nuremberg Principles, and the 1996 World Court ruling on the illegality of nuclear weapons. Defendant Anne Hall of Seattle referenced former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark in saying that "sometimes the only way people can be heard is to step across the line." The presiding juror of the jury was visibly emotional after the verdict was delivered, stating that she was "proud to sit with these people."

The Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action will continue its public opposition to nuclear weapons.