Trial underway for FPL plant protesters
By SUSAN SPENCER-WENDEL
Self-proclaimed anarchist Peter Tsolkas
and others from Everglades Earth First! huddled around
the defense table, their sport coats ill-fitting, their hair tousled or dyed
pink, their activist spirit perfectly intact.
"We hope to show this is a time for unconventional
action, urgent action," Tsolkas said outside
court.
Tsolkas and dozens of others were
arrested in February as some linked themselves together using PVC pipe and
chicken wire, blocking an entranceway to the future site of FPL's
Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to the
scene, calling out their Emergency Field Force - an elite unit trained to
respond to large-scale emergencies or natural disasters, a prosecutor told
jurors this morning in opening statements.
"You will hear they had to sit and cut apart every
piece of PVC pipe and take the time to pry all these individuals out of these
devices, "Assistant State Attorney Laura Burkhart said.
Assistant Public Defenders Erich Taylor and Charles Fountain
II, who represent the group, declined to give an opening statement. But they
are anticipated to be relying on a legal rarity: a "necessity"
defense allowed by law but rarely used.
One after the other, sheriff's officers and witnesses took
the stand as prosecutors Burkhart and Danielle Croke,
introduced evidence - photo after photo of the posted no-trespassing signs, the
video of the deputies carting the limp bodies of protesters away.
The deputies politely recounted for jurors setting up a
free-speech area for the protesters to move to, warning them repeatedly that
they would be arrested if they didn't go there.
"I heard traffic was blocked all the way to the
Fairgrounds," said one witness, John William Bates, an operations manager
of Palm Beach Aggregates on whose property who the protest occurred.
"How far is that?" the prosecutor asked.
"About 10 miles," Bates said.
One juror raised her brow.
Testimony in the case against Tsolkas,
Lynne Purvis, Marc Silverstein, Russell McSpadden,
Richard Halsted, Brandon Block and Noah Wilson is
expected to continue through Wednesday in front of County Judge Laura Johnson.
Possible penalties after a conviction could vary, depending
on the person's criminal history or lack thereof. They could range from
probation to some jail time and subject them to possible thousands of dollars
in fines and restitution.
This is the third separate trial held against the
protesters. An earlier one ended in a partial acquittal, according the
Everglades Earth First! web site. They are expected to
present evidence and expert testimony about what they believe is the potential
damage and danger of the power plant - belching carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere and leaching pollutants underground just across from the Loxahatchee
National Wildlife Refuge.
Tsolkas said the necessity defense
means that one is allowed to break the law for the greater good and is buoyed
by a recent not-guilty verdict for a person who used that defense in
The plant, which FPL promotes as being among the cleanest of its kind in the nation, is still under construction.