Anti-pipeline campaigners found not guilty by judge because of 'legal necessity'
Source: Independent UK
More than a dozen protesters who clambered into holes dug for a high pressure gas pipeline said they had been found not responsible by a judge after hearing them argue their actions to try and stop climate change were a legal “necessity”.
On Tuesday, Judge Mary Ann Driscoll of West Roxbury District Court, found all 13 defendants not responsible, the equivalent of not guilty in a criminal case. She did so after each of the defendants addressed the judge and explained why they were driven to try and halt the pipeline’s construction.
Speaking outside the court afterwards, Ms Gore, 44 (yea, Al's daughter), Director of the Centre for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York, said the court’s decision was historic. “What happened today was really important,” she said.“THE PEOPLE….WERE FOUND NOT RESPONSIBLE BY REASON OF NECESSITY." (caps mine)
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/pipeline-protesters-boston-protest-not-guilty-climate-change-karenna-gore-mary-ann-driscoll-a8276851.html
If this stands, this is HUGE! I believe this is the first time this defense has been successfully used for climate change. (please correct me if I'm wrong)
Wikipedia - "Defendants...should not be held liable for their actions as a crime because their conduct was necessary to prevent some greater harm."
This is the "if you see your neighbors house on fire it's ok to break-in in order to save lives!" defense, but for climate change it is -
From http://www.climatedisobedience.org/tags/necessity_defense
"A climate necessity defense offers a jury a novel scenario: the defendants freely admit to taking the actions for which they have been charged. Instead of seeking to plant doubt in the minds of jurors, the defense provides context for the action, calling expert witnesses to offer testimony about the urgency of the climate crisis..."
= new reply since forum marked as read
Great news! 
AWESOME
