Law to be changed as it is not used as intended

The Government is to change the claim of right defence so it cannot be used the way it was when three activists got off a criminal conviction when they damaged the Waihopai spybase.[Briefing paper [PDF]]. It intends to do this because the law, although applied correctly in the case, was not used as originally intended by Parliament.

So, to be consistent, lets change abortion laws to reflect the original intent of Parliament. And if it is clear that the abortion laws are not used as intended by Parliament, but the intent of Parliament has since changed, then the Government should put up the bill to change the law, as in the case of the claim of right defence.

Additionally, I note that Labour has publicised two bills recently, which have yet to be put into the parliamentary ballot. One is Clare Curran's Kiwi Jobs Bill, which has been widely publicised [and is here as a PDF], the other one, as Chris Trotter notes is one from former Womens Affairs and former associate Health Minister Steve Chadwick that seeks to amend our abortion laws. The bil has been drafted, and the Minister has discussed the bill with groups such as Family Planning,and the media.

But, like Phil Goff's comments on the bill, the bill itself, is nowhere to be seen.

Phil Goff said he hadn't given the matter much thought.Phil Goff was the spokesperson for Young Labour in 1977 when it actively opposed the current abortion law. Phil Goff got a reasonable amount of publicity on it back then.

Fast forward 21 years later for much thought.

As legislation relating to abortion is a conscience issue for Members of Parliament, it would be for individual parliamentarians to determine whether and in what form legislative amendments would be passed

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Everyone knows there is a spybase in Waihopai, now

Some time ago, musician Jeff Simmond wrote a song and produced a video recorded outside the Waihopai spybase which you can see here. One line is “ I bet you didn’t know there is a spybase in Waihopai.

Everyone who has had any recent exposure to the media knows there is a spybase in Waihopai, now.

The Waihopai 3 were acquitted in court of acting against the law in damaging the Waihopai spybase, as they had a “claim of right”. Crown Law has decided against an appeal, but released a statement [PDF] indicating that civil proceedings to cover the estimated $1.1m damages is not being ruled out. That`ll be a waste of taxpayers money according to Green MP Keith Locke.

Fr Peter Murnane, a pensioner, said on Morning Report today that any attempt to recover damages is merely paying for the exposure of torture and will be defended. And defending their actions - with or without civil proceedings - is part of the Waihopai 3’s protest in creating further awareness of the spybase.

The Waihopai 3 have little money –certainly not $1.1m. According to Adrian Leason, Murnane has some loose change, Leason has $400 in his bank account, and Sam Land keeps his money under his mattress and it's only a matter of hundreds. They’ve already forked out a few hundred for the farmers fence they damaged in getting to the spybase, presumably because damage to the fence was not seen to prevent war in Iraq.

Any civil proceedings will merely send a message that the powerful Crown, in certain circumstances, aims to treat certain people that have been found innocent in a court of law as if they had been found guilty in a court of law. Even if it is not successful in recovering damages.

If Crown Law does not like the claim of right defence, there is a simple solution: remove it from our statute books in the same way as was done for the partial defence of provocation.

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Will the Waihopai Three be arrested again?

Crown Law has released this statement and is looking at an appeal with regard to the judge's decision to allow the claim of right defence used by the Waihopai Three. It can do this under s 380 of the Crimes Act, provided the reservation is to do with a question of law.

If Crown Law pursues appeal, even though it could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that thee men did not honestly believe they were entitled to attack the spybase, the three acquitted men will have to be arrested again.I find it difficult to understand how a successful case could be made after this acquittal. Any legal beagles out there that would like to comment on this?

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The claim of right defence

It is fair to say that some people are astounded that the three men that attacked the Waihopai spybase were acquitted yesterday.

The "claim of right" defence ( as per s269(2) of the Crimes Act) was the key to this trial and the jury accepted that this defence is valid. Graeme Edgeler has illustrated what this defence is in what I think is a very accessible example. I'm sure he won't mind me repeating it here, and I'm sure he will agree that this example does not necessarily mean that he condones the actions of the Waihopai three. Not saying I necessarily condone it either, but the defence is available.

The "claim of right" defence is to do with property. You don't have to think you own something to rely on claim of right, you just need to think you have some right to do what you’re doing with the property. So here goes...

You come across a car with all the windows closed on a really hot day, it’s obviously really hot in the car, you look in the car and see a dog that has passed out from the heat. You yell out and no-one owns up to owning the car, you break the window to provide help to the dog, and find that it’s actually a dead dog that has been stuffed.

Do you own the car? No. Do you believe you own the car? No. Was your damaging the car necessary for some greater purpose, like saving an animal’s life? No. But you believed you were justified in damaging the car for some greater purpose. You have a claim of right.

BTW this case does not set a legal precedent, because the jury made a decision on the facts of the case, as opposed to a decision made by a judge. Nor does it mean that you have a right to kill someone because you think you are justified in doing so for some greater purpose.

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Spybase accused found not guilty

Excellent St Patrick's Day news - a not guilty verdict after two hours in the Waihopai spybase trial. Verdict came out at 5:45 when I was out. Story from Stuff is here.Ploughshares media release is here.

The trio, associated with the Ploughshares movement, readily admitted attacking the Waihopai spybase, but said they were driven by a belief that the satellite caused human suffering and their actions to shut it down, if only temporarily, were lawful. While I haven't seen a report of the summing up, it appeared the defence of a "claim of right" held. In other words, if the men believed they were acting lawfully, even if they were mistaken in that belief, this will lead to an acquittal.

If you think the Crown will appeal - not a chance there's a slim chance - but there's probably more chance of these guys popping the other dome at Waihopai spybase, which is unlikely as the point has been made..

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The Waihopai Trial II: Law and the law

The trial of three men charged with damaging the Waihopai spy base in Blenheim in May 2008 continues in the Wellington District Court this week.

The defence is claiming that they acted in self-defence, that it was a necessity, and also a claim of right. If the jury sees it their way, they’ll be acquitted.

Bryan Law has been in court(apparently in the public audience) blogging the trial every day, but has been verbally ordered by Judge Harrop to desist from doing so, because he mentioned some legal matters that were not heard in front of a jury in day two of the trial. I would have thought another reason would have been that he taking notes in the public area, as opposed to the press benches.

As a result, Law has decided not to continue blogging on the trial. The Court has advised me that the judge has practically prevented him from blogging aspects of this trial through sources outside the courtroom, or reporting on media reports, and to do so will be contempt of court. However the decision has not been formally made, that will occur later this morning.

As Law states, the freedom of speech around court hearings is an important part of democracy. If the press can report on the trial, it is unfortunate that the judge has not appeared to give anyone the option of blogging legitimately from the press bench like any other reporter.

So, Law has stopped reporting at day three unless the judge gives him express permission to do so. A report of day four of the trial is here. Wonder how legit that is?

update Just been advised that Law is now an accredited reporter for Scoop Media, with all reports also able to be posted onto his own blog. His first scoop post is here. Another report of the events is here.

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The Waihopai Trial

This morning, three men – one of whom is a friend of mine - went on trial in the District Court in Wellington charged with damaging the Waihopai spy base in Blenheim in May 2008. They damaged its operation by deflating one of the mammoth domes, causing $800,000 damage.

The Waihopai spybase is essentially a foreign spybase on New Zealand soil, and submits raw data directly to the US without checks by our government.

Sam Land, Adi Leason and Peter Murnane [profiled here] broke into the spy base using bolt-cutters and used two ten dollar sickles from Bunnings to slice into one of the domes that covered the satellite dishes. The men, from a group called Ploughshares, aimed to draw attention to New Zealand's involvement in the U.S. war in Iraq through the presence of this base. The dome took 15 minutes to deflate, and the men prayed while it was deflating – then were arrested.

About 200 peace activists from New Zealand and Australia (including Cairns activist Bryan Law who has come over to blog the trial) have gathered in Wellington to support the three men. There are events, vigils, demonstrations and concerts on all week including a public meeting on Wednesday night in which Keith Locke will speak. No doubt this song will be sung a few times.

There will be a Ploughshares interview 7:10am on Breakfast tomorrow.[ Update you can watch it here ]. The defendants will open their case tomorrow. One is representing himself.

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