Trial of 10 Nuclear War Protesters Opens : Defendants Charged With Blocking Buses at Arms Conference

The attorney defending 10 anti-nuclear war protesters arrested during a defense contractors conference in Costa Mesa last February said at the start of their trial Thursday that they had intended to “communicate with the participants at the conference rather than to obstruct.”

The 10 on trial in Harbor Municipal Court in Newport Beach are charged with obstructing the public, a misdemeanor. The arrests were made by Costa Mesa police at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel, when protesters allegedly blocked buses filled with conference participants who were en route to visit the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Attorney James Egar said the defendants “had been unable to meet with participants because of security measures. As the buses were leaving, using their free-speech rights, they tried to communicate with them.”

All 10 have pleaded not guilty. If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The prosecuting attorney in her opening remarks said the defendants are trying to “create a media event.” Deputy Dist. Atty. Kelly MacEachern told the jury of eight women and four men to “keep the issues simple.”

During the jury selection, MacEachern told prospective jurors that nuclear weaponry “is not what we are trying here.”

The accused are members of the Orange County Alliance for Survival, which protests annually at the Winter Conference of Aerospace and Electronics Systems. At the conference, defense contractors meet with representatives of the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to plan for future weaponry needs. Proceedings are closed to the public and press.

On Nov. 4, Superior Court Judge William W. Thomson denied a request by Egar to argue a defense of necessity, meaning the group was compelled to block the buses to bring attention to the nuclear weapons issue.

During court recesses, defendant Katherine Ridder, 27, a student at the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, said: “It is our responsibility to humanity and to creation. If I don’t say anything (about nuclear weapons) then I am guilty by default.”

Another defendant, the Rev. Dennis Short, chaplain at Orange Coast College, said: “It is a personal thing with all of us involved. We feel the cause of peace is greater than what could happen to us here.”

The trial is scheduled to continue Monday at 10 a.m.