On May 28, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty activists Kevin Kjonaas, Lauren Gazzola and Jacob Conroy appeared before a federal judge who granted the three bail on their own recognizance.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Wayne D. Brazil did issue a two-paragraph order preventing the two from, according to the Oakland Tribune, “disseminating any personal or private information about company employees and their families, and from threatening or inducing others to threaten anyone.”
Attorney’s for the three activists, however, said the order was not clear enough and asked Brazil for further clarification as to what the three can and cannot do. Brazil said he could not do so, but that the order was clear enough. “‘Go smash up someone’s car’ — that’s inducement,” Brazil said. “Exercising your political views is not inducement . . . you know you can’t threaten people, period.”
Andrea Lindsay made a statement outside the courtroom, however, saying that,
The indictment fails to pin one criminal act on any of these defendants . . . The indictments against these animal protection activists are nothing more than a clear attack on free speech and SHAC USA will be as s rigorous in its defense as it has been in its opposition to animal cruelty.
Lindsay also claimed that SHAC’s website simply reports on acts by other animal rights activists but does not incite them.
Michael Drewniak, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Jersey, said the facts would show otherwise,
Their Web site doesn’t just report — it incites harassment, intimidation and violence against individuals associated with Huntingdon. It defies logic to say they merely report things.
Source:
Lawyers for animal rights activists criticize government case. KTVU.Com, May 28, 2004.
Animal group vows to carry on. Josh Richman, Oakland Tribune, May 29, 2004.