Climate Necessity Defense Accepted in DC Superior Court
December 12, 2022
(Washington DC) Judge Shelly Mulkey of the D.C. Superior Court today allowed two Declare Emergency supporters to present the climate necessity defense. This is only the ninth time since 2008 that a U.S. court has allowed climate protest defendants to present the necessity defense, out of roughly 37 attempts, according to a 2021 Climate Defense Project report.
“The court’s decision today is a sign that there is a shift towards acknowledging the imminence and seriousness the climate emergency poses to life on Earth,” said 55-year-old defendant Michelle Wehner of Eugene, OR.
The defendants in the trial, Paul Severance and Michelle Wehner, participated in a nonviolent civil resistance action with other Declare Emergency supporters on April 13, 2022. The group blocked I-395 northbound near the 7th street SW on-ramp in Washington DC. They pleaded not guilty for reasons of necessity.
Before today’s trial, Judge Mulkey reviewed written arguments from both sides about the use of the necessity defense. Today, oral arguments were heard.
The defense, led by Mark Goldstone, argued that the necessity defense exists for when defendants have no other legal alternatives, and that climate nonviolent disobedience is one of those cases.
The sides also argued about whether the climate emergency protests in April had any connection to the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. The prosecution argued that there was no connection between the climate protests and legislation. The defense cited the evidence that prior to the April actions, there was no legislation on the table — and several months after the actions, a landmark climate bill was passed.
After hearing the oral arguments today, Judge Mulkey said the court will deliberate and notify both sides about the court’s decision in an upcoming hearing.
“We don’t have much time. Our leaders’ lies, obfuscation, excuses and willful inaction constitute the greatest crime in human history,” says defendant Paul Severance, a 61-year-old from Washington DC. “They sit unhindered in fancy offices in beautiful buildings just down the street from this courthouse while we are on trial. This is the greatest crime in human history. Why are we on trial, we who through the Declare Emergency campaign act to prevent our extinction? What kind of justice is this?”
Echoing these perspectives is U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who famously said "Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals. But the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels ... Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness."
“My six-year-old grandson, and all young people born in recent years deserve a better world than my generation is passing on to them. We are leaving them a future of social and economic collapse, mass migration, mass starvation, and war”, said Wehner. “The fossil fuel industry is paying our legislators to knowingly kill us all. If we don’t act in nonviolent civil resistance and disrupt this business-as-usual death march, we are all going to die.”
ABOUT DECLARE EMERGENCY
Declare Emergency is a member of the A22 Network for Civil Resistance, a ten-country coalition formed following the 1.2 degree Celsius increase in global average temperatures. Each member has a distinct policy demand from their respective governments. In the United States of America, Declare Emergency demands that President Biden declare a national climate emergency, and cease all extraction on federal and indigenous lands . https://www.declareemergency.org/
MEDIA CONTACTS
Michelle Wehner (503) 686-3141
Paul Severance (202) 560-3172
PHOTO CREDIT
Will Dickson / Declare Emergency Supporter
DeclareEmergency@protonmail.com
A22 NETWORK FOR CIVIL RESISTANCE
A22 Media Contacts and Social Media Links: A22 Network Projects - Contacts and Social Media
A22 Network’s Declaration on the Crisis: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SY0bnjSeHNogHCOi9F2QrfGKu7IqcFAFD-uNFFgPd0o/edit?usp=sharing