I'm Free. But The Fight Has Just Begun.
Five challenges facing the movement in the wake of the Sonoma verdict.
I’m free, unexpectedly.
After being warned by my lawyers that the judge might seek the maximum sentence — 42 months — I was instead released on Saturday, December 9, after a mere 38-day stay. I went straight from jail to gather signatures for the ballot initiative to ban factory farms in Sonoma County. (It’s important that the industry sees that repressing activists will only increase our resolve.)
Then I went home to see Oliver. We held an event in San Francisco the next day — with Oliver present, naturally — and this week, I’ve been working on re-acclimating to the world outside. Many of the things I took for granted — being able to move beyond a 50 square feet space, see the sun, or find a place where I can meditate in silence — are available to me again. I’m finding myself with a new appreciation for the things that are most important, but often ignored, in life. The people I love, like Oliver, most of all. In many ways, it has been a beautiful experience, despite all the hardships I and the people around me have faced.
But this fight has just begun. The government and industry continue to crack down hard on activists and supporters of animal rights, both with new charges filed against Zoe Rosenberg, Rocky Chau, and Conrad de Jesus — and with the upcoming Ridglan trial. There are also unprecedented opportunities to make change, as the “loss” in Sonoma offers new avenues for establishing precedents that could change the face of animal rights.
I’ve been reflecting a lot on what I — and the movement — need to focus on in the months and years to come. Here are five of the most crucial challenges — plus a sixth personal challenge for readers curious about what comes next for me.
1. Establishing “animal personhood” and making animals visible to the law.
While the guilty verdict in Sonoma County was a difficult blow, in the long run, this outcome allows us to potentially achieve an outcome even better than acquittal: winning on appeal, and thereby establishing a binding precedent for “animal personhood.” Personhood is what makes someone visible within our legal system. Only “persons” can bring legal claims, or have the basic rights guaranteed by our constitutional system. And the fight to establish a precedent for animal personhood is among the most important fronts in the struggle for animal rights. (We cannot protect animals if they are invisible to the law!)
But such precedents are only possible if a defendant first loses in the trial court because only an appellate court has such authority in the American legal system. And we are in a strong position, both factually and legally, to make an argument for personhood to the court of appeal. Specifically, the doctrine of legal necessity, which allows individuals to take emergency action to aid “someone” who is suffering from “significant bodily injury,” was denied by the trial court but is among the most promising avenues for winning personhood for animals. The reason is that it leverages the personhood of an individual who clearly has legal standing — the human rescuer — to challenge the denial of personhood for the animal victim. And, in our appeal, we have enormous legal firepower behind this idea, including a supporting opinion by Harvard Law School’s Kristen Stilt. If the Court of Appeals agrees with our argument on necessity, we won’t just erase the guilty verdict. We’ll establish a precedent that will transform animal law.
2. Winning the right to rescue.
My trial in Sonoma County was just the latest battle in the fight for the right to rescue.
On the very day of my sentencing, Zoe and others were arrested for rescuing animals from local factory farms.
Days later, our legal team submitted a brief to the North Carolina Supreme Court arguing that my removal of a sick baby goat in Transylvania County was a rescue, not a theft.
And perhaps most urgently, just a few months from now, Eva Hamer, Paul Picklesimer, and I face felony charges in regard to the removal of a tortured and blind puppy, Julie, from one of the two largest dog breeding and research facilities in the nation, Ridglan Farms in Dane County, Wisconsin.
The fight for the right to rescue is in a crucial place. We have won twice and lost twice. The upcoming cases will show us whether our victories in Utah and Merced were an aberration — or a sign of a movement that, despite hiccups like Sonoma, is learning how to make change. All of these cases, moreover, will present tremendous opportunities to educate the public about what happens behind closed doors and put pressure on our institutions to do the right thing.
3. Rebuilding a movement on the frontlines.
In 2018, in swift and coordinated fashion, four separate felony prosecutions were brought against open rescuers across the nation. For years, the industry had ignored us, despite widespread media attention, including a Huffington Post op-ed about cage-free eggs that was shared tens of thousands of times.
But five years ago, they changed course. The Sonoma verdict is a product of the industry shift to the tactics of intimidation. And, to some extent, it worked. Most obviously, Priya Sawhney and I (along with other open rescue leaders like Almira Tanner and Cassie King) were taken out of the game, entangled in a web of litigation. But other activists were also deterred. Open rescue stalled after tremendous growth from 2015 to 2018, and we need two things to turn back the tide.
The first is reducing uncertainty about repression. We need to educate the movement about the nitty-gritty details of arrest, prosecution, and even incarceration. (I’ll post more about these details in regard to my own stay in jail. Stay tuned.) When people know what to expect, even when it’s bad, they become less afraid.
The second is establishing purpose. So long as activists see the value in their sacrifice, there will be many willing to take risks. It’s on all of us to build momentum for the right to rescue by spreading these stories far and wide.
4. Shining light on disinformation.
Ten years ago, when we started DxE, the main source of disinformation by industry was the humane myth. Factory farms marketed their products as “free range” and “humane.” In reality, these farms were dark, industrial facilities where animals were literally eating each other alive. The industry knows they cannot fight the animal rights movement on these facts, so they’ve thus shifted to a new and more dangerous type of propaganda: attacking the integrity of the activists.
We are already seeing this in Zoe’s case, where the industry is attempting to blame her — with no evidence — for an outbreak of avian flu. But groups like the Center for Consumer Freedom and the Animal Agriculture Alliance have been spreading disinformation for many years, funded by their corporate backers. False allegations of abuse, cult-like control, even sexual assault… the industry knows that our credibility and integrity are our greatest strengths. Undercutting that strength, and causing the movement to implode from internal conflict, has become their strategy of choice.
That will change. For the first time, I will be bringing legal action this year against influential figures who have intentionally spread false information to damage the movement. As uncomfortable as it is, it’s time for that disinformation to be brought to light.
5. Defending against efforts to bankrupt the movement.
In the midst of the Sonoma trial, a conservative judge in Alameda County issued a $200,000 judgment against me by Diestel Turkey Ranch. This comes on top of the $270,000 she already ordered me to pay in February 2021. But there’s a bizarre twist. The judgment fees stems from a case that a judge accidentally ruled on without a trial. The original judge on the case got sick. The new judge, vehemently anti-vegan, issued a ruling against me, apparently failing to realize I had not yet been put on trial!
This unconstitutional effort to bankrupt activists may, in the long run, be even more dangerous than criminal prosecution. There are far fewer protections for civil defendants — e.g., there is no right to counsel in a civil case — and business-oriented judges have a bias for corporate litigants. (The CEOs and general counsels representing the companies are very often their close friends and colleagues.)
This is the year that we have to blow the lid off that effort and expose the unconstitutional legal harassment of activists. Indirectly, this will help the animals. The lawlessness with which those in power act will demonstrate how broken our system has become — and why we need change.
6. Bonus: Rebuilding a personal life.
For the last quarter century, animal rights has been what I eat, drink, and breathe. For many years that has been not just sustainable, but invigorating. The fight for animal rights saved my life.
I am in a different place, however, than I was 15 years ago. For one, the challenges listed above have weighed on me heavily, as a reluctant movement “leader.” They’ve made made me wonder repeatedly: Am I the right person for this job?
For another, I am 42 years old, finalizing this post just days after being released from a jail cell. All the dreams I’ve delayed are increasingly feeling like dreams that have been denied.
For a long time, I’ve ignored these personal aspirations. Many of them still seem remote. But there have been moments in the last years — notably the deaths of Lisa and Joan — when I’ve realized that rebuilding some semblance of a personal life is no longer a luxury but a necessity. It’s hard to keep fighting when your sources of support have been taken away.
I don’t know what that looks like, exactly, but I know it starts with spending more time with the people I love.
—
My time in Sonoma County jail was difficult, and I’ll miss the friends I made inside — including Robin and James. But that time also provided clarity, as difficult moments often do. I can see the challenges ahead and a path by which they will be overcome. But perhaps the most difficult challenge is that I will face these challenges without the people I love. For two years, as punishment for my “crimes”, I am barred from contacting 14 people who have been my best friends in the world.
But even in this profound sense of loneliness, jail has taught me to be prepared. For one, I’m now intimately acquainted with isolation. Through much of my stay, I was held in solitary confinement and given 30 minutes or less outside of my cell. For another, I’ve gained a renewed appreciation for the power of reflection. The time in jail, though lonely, also granted me great insight.
The most important lesson, however, is that even if I am separated from important people, I am never truly alone. The letters and visits and well wishes showed me: There are good people in this world, and they are right there with you in this fight. Overcoming these challenges, seen in that light, suddenly becomes not just achievable but inevitable. So, let me end with these words.
The fight for the right of all living beings to be free has just begun. But with you and I and many others joined in solidarity — each taking our distinct role — this fight will be won.
I am glad you are out of that place. You don't belong there.
It's a privilege to support you and DxE.
You are a good man and it is truly a privilege to support you & DxE ... I wish you Peace & Every Good Thing!