Pam Gilchrist, one of the LANL 6, talks with people outside the courthouse following the trial on Jan. 9th.

Pam Gilchrist, one of the LANL 6, talks with people outside the courthouse following the trial on Jan. 9th.

The trial began a bit after 9am, with about 75 people in attendance. Aside from the attendant press (which is immune from having opinions) all the audience was supportive. Since the courtroom audience is capped at 53 people, people rotated in and out so all who wanted to watch were able. After the prosecution’s witness & arrest video were shown there was a recess, which was followed by the very powerful & moving testimonies of the LANL 6, as well as Jeff Haas’s strong closing statement.

The trespassing charge was dropped, since the police never told any anyone they were trespassing, or that LANL had withdrawn permission to be on (what they never exactly established as) lab property. The traffic obstruction & refusing to obey a lawful order charges stood however, though as one of the 6 noted: the militia [Los Alamos PD & private security contractors] was doing a much better job of blocking the road than the protesters.

All 6 were found guilty of those two charges, and sentenced to 1 year unsupervised probation and fined $200/per radical. Occupy NM is reporting that those fines are in addition to $140/each in fees. (Clarification)
For those keeping track at home, that is $2,040.

Needless to say, the judge’s sentences against the LANL 6 are excessive & unjust. The six have a while before the payment/sentence is in effect though, and in the meanwhile they & counsel are reviewing their options to fight it.

More at @unoccupyabq & @0ccupyNewMexico

Article previously stated a total cost of 3k+ to the court due to an inaccurate reading of reports. Corrected, thanks.

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