Free speech or animal-rights terrorism?
Henry K. Lee, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Four animal-rights protesters pleaded not guilty today in federal court to charges that they harassed and threatened researchers at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, saying they had been exercising their free-speech rights.
Joseph Buddenberg, Maryam Khajavi, Adriana Stumpo and Nathan Pope are law-abiding citizens who are among the first defendants to be charged under a new federal statute that stifles the First Amendment by mislabeling legitimate speech as terrorism, their attorneys said outside court.
"I am a victim of free-speech suppression," Khajavi, 20, of Pinole said after entering her not-guilty plea in U.S. District Court in San Jose.
Khajavi, who said she plans to apply to law school and wants to become a civil-rights attorney, was surrounded by dozens of supporters, many of whom held signs that denounced University of California regents, the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office.
Khajavi's attorney, J. Tony Serra, questioned why the government was going after "idealistic youth" instead of prosecuting researchers who torture animals.
"We will vigorously defend her right to dissent," Serra said.
Buddenberg's attorney, Robert Bloom agreed, saying, "This is not intimidation. This is not threats. This is exposing people who are believed to be torturers."
At issue for the activists and their attorneys is the constitutionality of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, which makes it a federal crime to interfere with the operations of an animal enterprise through force, violence or threats while placing a person in a "reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury." The law carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.
Khajavi, Buddenberg, 25, of Berkeley, Stumpo, 23, of Long Beach and Pope, 26, of Oceanside (San Diego County), who is Stumpo's fiance, are due back in court on April 13. They were indicted March 12 by a grand jury in San Jose on one count each of conspiracy and one count of violating the federal law.
According to a criminal complaint filed last month, the four are part of a larger group of protesters who targeted at least nine UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz professors at their homes in El Cerrito, Berkeley, Oakland and Santa Cruz. The complaint says the protesters wore masks and chanted slogans such as, "You're a murderer," in hours-long protests at researchers' homes.
In February 2008, protesters went to a researcher's home in Santa Cruz, banged on doors and shook the front door handle, according to the complaint. When the researcher's husband opened the door to confront the protesters, he was allegedly struck by an object, after which the group drove off.
The protesters' car belonged to Khajavi's mother, authorities said. That led police to search Khajavi's home on Riverside Avenue in Santa Cruz, where they also found Pope and Stumpo.
Authorities discovered several bandanas carrying DNA from Khajavi, Pope and Stumpo, a bullhorn and notes with researchers' personal information, FBI Special Agent Lisa Shaffer wrote in an affidavit.
In July, Buddenberg and Pope were part of a group videotaped at a cafe leaving flyers containing researchers' home addresses and the message: "Animal abusers everywhere beware we know where you live," the complaint said.
The personal information about the researchers had been downloaded two days earlier at a Kinko's in Santa Cruz, according to the complaint. Pope and Stumpo were allegedly videotaped using the rented terminal used to access that information.
A few days after the flyers were distributed, two UC Santa Cruz researchers' homes were firebombed, authorities said. Those attacks remain under investigation, and the four defendants have not been charged with them.
The complaint said the researchers had told investigators they were terrified by the incidents. Serra, however, said the allegations that the defendants had caused a "reasonable fear of death" was absurd.
E-mail Henry K. Lee at hlee@sfchronicle.com .
