From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Bari/Cherney Suit against FBI Proceeds
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 00:27:52 GMT

** Topic: Bari/Cherney Suit v. FBI Proceeds **
** Written  1:11 pm  Sep  4, 1992 by jcarlisle in cdp:ecotopia.news **
9/3/92

NewsBrief

"Bari/Cherney/Mendocino Environmental Center Lawsuit Against FBI Clears Major
Hurdle"

By Johan Carlisle

San Francisco - A federal judge has ruled that Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney can
sue the FBI and the Oakland police for violating their civil rights by failing
to properly investigate the May, 1990, car bombing in Oakland that nearly
killed Bari and injured Cherney.

According to a report by Seth Rosenfeld in the San Francisco Examiner (9/3/92,
p. A-5), "Judi Bari said Wednesday that the suit would show that the FBI was
persisting in harassing dissident groups, even though Congress in the mid-1970s
declared such activities -- called COINTELPRO -- unconstitutional."
(COINTELPRO, which stands for COunter INTELligence PROgram, was a secret FBI
intelligence operation involving harassment, infiltration, alleged murders and
disruption of the Communist Party USA, the Black liberation movement, the New
Left, the Feminist movement, the anti-Vietnam War movement and other dissidents
from the '50s through the early '70s when it was discovered by activists and
allegedly halted by Congress.)

U.S. District Judge Eugene Lynch ruled Tuesday that Bari, 42, and Darryl
Cherney, 36, could press their suit, which alleges law enforcement officials
engaged in conspiracy, false arrest and illegal searches, and falsely portrayed
Bari and Cherney as responsible for the explosion. 

But, in a partial setback for the lawsuit, Judge Lynch dismissed their claims
against the Ukiah police and the Humboldt and Mendocino sheriff's departments
for allegedly failing to stop threats and violence against Bari and other
environmentalists.

One of the attorneys for Bari and Cherney, William Simpich, told the Examiner:
"He kept in the heart of the case."  Bari said, "There hasn't been any justice
in this case so far.  I hope we can get some now."

An FBI spokesperson told the Examiner that it's probe had been proper and
declined further comment.

The lawsuit, filed last year, could have been dismissed this week by Judge
Lynch.  Now that it has been allowed to proceed, Bari and Cherney's legal team
will be allowed to begin the discovery process.  This will allow them to
subpoena documents from the FBI and the Oakland police and to take depositions,
under oath, from FBI agents and Oakland police officials.

The still-unsolved May 24, 1990, car bombing of Bari and Cherney in Oakland is
the basis of the lawsuit.  At the time, Bari and Cherney were helping to
promote upcoming Redwood Summer protests in Humboldt County against the logging
of old growth forests.  On the day of the bombing -- a pipe bomb wrapped with
nails exploded under Bari's driver seat, shattering her pelvis and leaving her
with a permanent disability -- she and Cherney were driving through Oakland on
their way to Santa Cruz to promote Redwood Summer.  Cherney's face and eyes
were injured and both were hospitalized.  Later that day, the Oakland police
arrested both of them for allegedly bombing themselves.  Now, over two years
later, the Alameda County district attorney's office has still declined to
pursue the charges, citing insufficient evidence.

The lawsuit which is being led by attorneys Dennis Cunningham, of San
Francisco, and Bill Simpich, of Oakland, is also being supported by the
International Workers of the World, known popularly as the Wobblies.  Bari is a
Wobbly organizer in Mendocino County and she has always said that her efforts
to organize timber workers against the cut and run policies of the big timber
corporations was a thorn in the side of Louisiana Pacific, Pacific Lumber and
other companies.  

Support for the lawsuit, which is one of the few opportunities activists have
had to sue the FBI in a long time, is also being provided by a small group of
Earth First! activists, investigators and researchers.  Donations to this
lawsuit, which in spite of large amounts of volunteer labor, will still cost
over $100,000, are welcome and much-needed.  To get more information or to
donate money, contact the Mendocino Environmental Center: (707) 468-1660, 106
W. Standley St., Ukiah, CA 95482.

-30-



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