Mistrial Declared in Suit by Logging Foes Swabbed With Pepper Spray

SAN FRANCISCO —  A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in a lawsuit by anti-logging demonstrators whose eyes were swabbed with pepper spray by police.

The eight jurors deliberated for five hours Monday and one hour Tuesday before sending a note to U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker saying that they did not believe that a unanimous verdict was possible.

The jury was split 4 to 4 and reached a “philosophical disagreement” with no prospect of resolution, forewoman Pat Schimke of Hayward told reporters. She said she believed that the officers used excessive force and considered the deadlock a sad day for civil disobedience.

“If you can’t sit down in a nonviolent way and protest in behalf of your own beliefs without being subjected to peace officers swabbing your eyes with pepper spray or other chemical agents, that’s sort of going back to the days of cattle prods and fire hoses,” she said.

Walker scheduled a retrial for Nov. 16.

The two-week trial stemmed from demonstrations against the cutting of old-growth trees in Humboldt County last fall, in which protesters chained themselves together inside heavy metal sleeves. Sheriff’s deputies and Eureka police used liquid pepper spray to try to dislodge them.

Nine demonstrators sued the county and the city for damages.

But law enforcement officers said pepper spray is safer than cutting protesters out of the sleeves.