original source: Kitsap Sun
http://www.kitsapsun.com/bsun/local/article/0,2403,BSUN_19088_4648700,00.html

Peace Activists Won't Be Retried

By Elaine Helm, ehelm@kitsapsun.com
April 25, 2006

PORT ORCHARD

The Kitsap County Prosecutor's Office has decided not to pursue a second trial for four protesters arrested near the main gate to Bangor submarine base on Aug. 8.

The protesters were tried in Kitsap County District Court earlier this month. A mistrial was declared April 12 after jurors could not agree on a verdict.

"We just are unable to prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt based on what the jury decided," said Jeffrey Jahns, the deputy prosecutor who argued the case.

Four protesters — Bryce Brown, Shannon Bushnell, Patricia Imani and Alice Zillah — were charged with one count each of failure to disperse, a misdemeanor carrying a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

At their trial, they admitted to blocking the road leading into the base, but argued that their actions posed no significant risk of injury to other people or harm to property, a key element of the crime with which they were charged.

They were among 19 people arrested at an event sponsored by Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action to mark the 60th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

None of the people arrested at the demonstration will face further charges, Jahns said.