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.