On January 30, 2002, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that using pepper spray on non-violent protestors locked down in symbolic protest is unconstitutional. In fall 1997 officers from the Humboldt County Sheriff?s Department and the Eureka Police Department calmly and methodically rubbed pepper spray into the eyes of nine protestors who had locked themselves together in protest of Pacific Lumber Company?s logging of Headwaters Forest. Video footage of these acts of police torture was broadcast around the world causing international outrage. After four and a half years into a rollercoaster battle, the Ninth Circuit, in a strongly worded opinion, concluded that any reasonable law enforcement officer should have known that using pepper spray on the Headwaters protestors in the manner carried out by Humboldt officers was excessive force, in violation of the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution.
The officers? motion for rehearing was recently denied. The officers are likely to appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court reviews less that 5 percent of the cases it is asked to review, so the Ninth Circuit decision is likely to stand as binding precedent in the nine western states in which it has jurisdiction. By October 2002 the Supreme Court will have ruled on whether or not it will review the case. At that point the case will either settle or go back to the District Court for trial. So while the legal efforts of the nine Headwaters protestors are still far from over, they have already accomplished their primary goal to, gain a binding legal ruling that should prevent police in Humboldt county and elsewhere from using pepper spray on non-violent protestors engaged in peaceful civil disobedience. The opinion, Headwaters Forest Defense v County of Humboldt is available on the 9th Circuits website: www.ce9.uscourts.gov.
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TOC for Forest & River News, Spring 2002