State v. Klapstein

In a split decision, the Minnesota Court of Appeals dismissed the State of Minnesota’s appeal of a trial court decision allowing defendants who participated in a “valve turner” protest to present a necessity defense. Two defendants who used bolt-cutters to enter an oil pipeline valve station and to cut a chain securing a valve device and one defendant who filmed the activities were charged with felony criminal damage to property, aiding and abetting felony criminal damage to property, gross misdemeanor trespassing, and aiding and abetting gross misdemeanor trespassing, A fourth defendant who accompanied the other three defendants and contacted the pipeline operator to notify it of their actions was charged with conspiracy to commit felony criminal damage to property and aiding and abetting felony criminal damage to property. The appellate court said the State had not made the necessary showing that the trial court’s ruling would have a critical impact on the prosecutors’ case “in the absence of other yet-unmade rulings” regarding what testimony and evidence would be permitted, what objections the State would make, and what the trial court’s rulings would be. One judge dissented, saying that permitting any evidence regarding global warming and the defendants’ belief that the federal government’s response to global warming had been ineffective “would have a critical impact on the outcome of the trial.” The dissenting judge also wrote that the evidence the defendants wished to present did not relate to the necessity defense as interpreted under Minnesota law because the defendants could not establish the three essential elements of the defense: that there was no legal alternative to their actions, that the harm was imminent, and that there was a direct, causal connection between their actions and the prevention of global warming.

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A Minnesota trial court dismissed felony and misdemeanor charges against three climate change activists in connection with their participation in a “valve turner” pipeline protest in 2016. The Climate Defense Project, an organization assisting in the defense of the protesters, <a href="https://climatedefenseproject.org/victory-in-minnesota-valve-turners-acquitted-of-all-charges/">announced</a> on October 9, 2018 that the judge dismissed the charges after the prosecution closed its case on the second day of trial. The court found that there was insufficient evidence that the defendants damaged the pipeline. The trial court had ruled in 2017 that the defendants could present a necessity defense. In 2018, the Minnesota Court of Appeals dismissed the State’s appeal of the trial court’s ruling on the necessity defense, and the Minnesota Supreme Court declined to review. The dismissal of the charges rendered the presentation of the necessity defense unnecessary. Prior to the start of the trial, the court <a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/10/08/necessity-defense-climate-change-trial/">restricted</a> the number of expert witness the defense could call to five and required that experts testify in person.