AUGUST 13 – Five peace and anti-drone activists were found guilty late Monday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento of trespassing on federal property.
The so-called “Beale 5” were arrested October 30, 2012 at the main gate to Beale Air Force Base, near Marysville, CA, where they had stood peacefully blocking the entrance. Beale AFB is home to the Global Hawk, a surveillance drone that provides reconnaissance for the weaponized predator drone, used in the majority of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.
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Sharon Delgato speaks before the trial in front of the U.S. District Courthouse in Sacramento.
The guilty verdict, handed down by federal judge Carolyn K. Delaney, means a possible fine and/or up to six months in federal prison. Sentencing is set for September 9.
All the defendants have said they will not pay a fine or accept probation.
The court refused to allow the defense of necessity, in which the defendants could argue they engaged in civil disobedience in order to prevent a greater harm, the killing of innocent men, women and children by the U.S. government. It also refused to allow the defendants to invoke the Nuremberg principle, which provides that a citizen is complicit in the killing of civilians if they do not protest or try to stop that killing by their government.
Cindy Sheehan and about 50 peace advocates from Northern California attended the trial.
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Cindy Sheehan speaks before the trial of the “Beale Five.”
The defendants were represented by volunteer lawyers coordinated by the National Lawyers Guild of Sacramento, which said the government also denied defendants a jury trial, even though they could be sentenced to six months in prison.
Those found guilty were Janie Kesselman of Camptonville; Sharon Delgado of Nevada City; Shirley Osgood of Grass Valley; and David and Jan Hartsough of San Francisco.
A second anti-drone trial is scheduled later this year for another group of five people arrested at Beale AFB this past April 30.