COURT CALENDAR

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1997:

The late April trials of U.S. activists Steve
Hindi and Ben White for alleged assault and resisting
arrest at a September 1, 1996 protest outside Marineland
of Niagara, Ontario, ended with split verdicts. All
charges against Hindi were dropped; White was fined $500.
Hindi, founder of the Chicago Animal Rights Coalition,
hoped to present video evidence to a jury a month later in
Wauconda, Illinois, on behalf of CHARC member Greg
Campbell, that police captain Frank Winans faked an
alleged assault against him by Campbell during a protest
against last year’s Wauconda Rodeo. The same video,
made by a freelance news team, earlier cleared CHARC
member Chris Grushas of allegedly obstructing justice.
However, the judge strictly limited the video the court
could see, and Campbell was convicted of two misdemeanors.
Hindi said an appeal is likely. Mike Durschmidt,
not a CHARC member but a frequent participant in CHARC
protests, is meanwhile contesting his arrest for disrupting a
children’s sheep-riding event at the same rodeo on grounds
of necessity. Vermont neutering specialist Peggy Larsen,
D V M, also an attorney and former rodeo performer, is
scheduled to testify at a June 23 trial that the cruelty to the
sheep outweighed the charges.

Bret G. Walton, 18, of Bountiful, Utah, was
charged April 24 with assisting Trev J. Poulson, 19, of
Layton, Utah, and Cameron Michael Kraus, 18, of
Centerville, Utah, in the March 19 attempted firebombing
of the Montgomery Fur Co. in Ogden. One day earlier
Jacob Kenison, 18, was arrested in Salt Lake City for
alleged possession of incendiary devices. Kenison was
reportedly also to be charged with aggravated arson in connection
with a 1995 fire at Tandy Leather in Murray,
Utah. Jacob Trouf, 19, pleaded guilty on April 9 to third
degree felony arson for his part in torching a McDonald’s
restaurant in West Jordan, Utah, doing $400,000 damage.
Also charged were Mark Klein, 19, Ryan Durfee, 19,
and a 17-year-old whose name was not released. F u r
Commission USA has posted a reward of $100,000 for
information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever
pipebombed the Utah Fur Breeders Agricultural
C o o p e r a t i v e in Sandy, Utah, on March 11. Police have
not acknowledged having suspects. The series of cases took
a twist on May 7 when eight Salt Lake City activists accompanied
by visitors from California and Oregon and several
TV news crews confronted Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms agent John Cooper at the local BATF office,
accusing him of entering the apartment of M e g h a n n
Griggs, 18, without a warrant on April 11 and holding a
gun to her head while searching for Kenison. According to
Bob Elston of the Deseret News, “the teenage activists contended,
without substantial proof, that BATF has been
harassing them, following them, and illegally tapping their
phones,” and “said that Griggs had been called to testify
before a grand jury investigating animal rights activism.”
Michael Roberts, 63, drew six years in prison
on April 28 for his part in plotting arsons and other vandalism
during the 1994-1995 Shoreham protests against the
export of live cattle and sheep from England to slaughter in
Europe. Former social worker Barbara Trenholm was previously
sentenced to 10 years and Justin Wright, 18, to
five years for their part in the related firebombing of the
White Hart pub at Henfield. “As well as the attack on the
White Hart,” Michael Fleet of the London Daily Telegraph
reported, “there was a petrol bomb attack on cattle lorries
parked at a farm in Chailey, East Sussex, as their drivers
slept inside, the court heard.” Convicted with Roberts,
who reportedly has a long criminal history, were T o n y
Daly, 35, of Hove, who drew three years; Roberts’ wife
Tracy, 32, a mother of two, who received a two-year suspended
sentence; Jonathan Taylor, 27, of Mansfield,
Nottinghamshire, who drew four years; and K e v i n
Chapman, 19, of Southampton, jailed for two years.