Animal rights activist Gina Lyn was jailed this month after invoking her Fifth Amendment right not to testify before a grand jury investigating acts of animal rights terrorism in Washington state. Lynn can be held until the grand jury’s term runs out, which could be as early as September or as late as March 2005 if the prosecutor should request a six month extension of the grand jury’s term.
Lynn has a habit of being jailed for failing to cooperate with grand juries, including a 22-day stint in 1999 and another in 2000 for refusing to cooperate with grand jury’s investigating environmental and animal rights terrorism.
The grand jury in this case wants Lynn to answer questions about a May 2000 arson at an Olympia, Washington timber company and the theft of a couple hundred chickens at a nearby egg farm the same day.
Lynn has been granted limited immunity from prosecution, which would prevent prosecutors from using her statements against her in court.
Source:
Animal rights activist is jailed for contempt. Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 27, 2004.