TRI In The News
Activist Arrested in Protest Outside Boar's Head Inn Found Not Guilty
7/21/2011
TRI IN THE NEWS: ACTIVIST ARRESTED IN PROTEST OUTSIDE BOAR'S HEAD INN FOUND NOT GUILTY
From Newsplex
Original article available here.
John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, tells CBS19 his client, Chris Walters, was found not guilty Tuesday of trespassing.
Walters participated in a protest of the strip mining activities of Dominion Virginia Power while standing on a public highway in front of the Boar's Head Inn. He was arrested and charged with trespassing after refusing to move from the shoulder of Route 250 in Charlottesville near the entrance of the resort, where Dominion Virginia Power was hosting a shareholders' meeting.
"I thought they can't arrest me for walking away, down the street, holding a sign, but it turns out I was wrong," Walters explained. "They got me out of there, which was their goal, but later had to admit they had no right to do that."
The judge agreed. Walters was exonerated of the charge after Rutherford Institute attorneys pointed out that a document filed by the prosecutor showed that the place where Walters was standing was not part of the Inn's property.
"This is a victory for the First Amendment right to assemble and protest," said Whitehead. "Hopefully, the police will know better next time and not impede the constitutional rights of protesters."
Cleared of any wrongdoing, Walters says the arrest and trespassing charge are not what upsets him the most. Rather, it's the fact that his message against mountaintop removal was muted.
"I want to protect my first amendment rights, but what gets lost in that is what I was protesting, which is the destruction of America."
On May 12, Dominion Virginia Power shareholders assembled at Boar's Head Inn to consider a resolution to limit the utility company's purchase of coal derived from mountaintop removal. That same day, Walters and a number of other grassroots environmental activists gathered to protest the practice.
