Minnesota judge tosses charges midtrial against 3 activists
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota judge abruptly dismissed charges against three climate change activists during their trial on Tuesday, saying prosecutors failed to prove that the protesters’ attempt to shut down two Enbridge Energy oil pipelines caused any damage.
Clearwater County District Judge Robert Tiffany threw the case out after prosecutors rested their case and before the protesters could use their defence: that the threat of climate change from using crude oil drilled from Canadian tar sands was so imminent that the activists’ actions were not only morally right, but necessary.
The attorneys had long fought to use a “necessity defence” during the trial of the three Seattle-area residents, two of whom admitted turning the emergency shut-off valves on the northwest Minnesota pipelines in 2016 as part of a co-ordinated action in four states. Such a defence has been used by other activists protesting pipelines.
Their attorney, Lauren Regan, acknowledged outside the courthouse in Bagley that she and her clients were surprised that the judge granted their motion to dismiss the case. The three defendants faced felony charges involving criminal damage to critical public service facilities. They could have faced up to a year in jail, according to prosecutors.