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Rose Parade Protestor Pleads Not Guilty

Published on Friday, March 14, 2014 | 6:49 am
 

A protester who was among several people arrested for attempting to prevent a SeaWorld float from participating in the Tournament of Roses Parade Jan. 1 pleaded not guilty Thursday in Pasadena Superior Court.

Amanda Slyter, 25, of Los Angeles, was one of 15 adults and one child arrested and charged with “interference with a special event,” a misdemeanor, for blocking the path of the float to protest what Slyter later said is the inhumane treatment of orcas by Seaworld.

Slyter and other members of the group have said they were protesting on behalf the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

“Blocking a parade float for a few minutes to make a point on behalf of oppressed beings who cannot free themselves is nothing compared to how SeaWorld robs orcas of the sea, their families and any semblance of a quality life,” Slyter said after her arrest. “The only hope for the orcas imprisoned at SeaWorld is for more people to take a strong stand, and they can start by boycotting this pitifully cruel amusement park.”

Slyter is the first of the PETA protesters to enter a plea in the case. Her pretrial hearing is scheduled for April 10.

“Pleading not guilty allows us to keep SeaWorld in the spotlight and in the public’s attention,” the Pasadena Star-News quoted Slyter as saying Thursday. “If anyone’s guilty, it’s SeaWorld.”

Slyter is represented by PETA attorney Matthew Strugar, who told the newspaper that if the case goes to trial he will argue a “necessity” defense.

According to Blacks Law Dictionary, a necessity defense holds that a criminal act was necessary in order to prevent “significant bodily harm or evil” to either oneself or someone else.

In 2001, the California Third District Court of Appeal ruled that the necessity defense does not apply to animals. In that case, which involved a woman who was keeping more than 35 cats in her home, Judge George Nicholson instructed the jury that, in order for the necessity defense to apply, the act must have been done “to prevent a significant and imminent evil, namely, a threat of bodily harm to oneself or another person.”

In a press release following Slyter’s arrest, PETA officials detailed their concerns about the conditions under which orcas are kept at SeaWorld.

“In the wild, orcas swim upward of 100 miles per day,” the press release said, “but at SeaWorld, they’re forced to swim in tiny circles to amuse tourists and spend the majority of their lives virtually motionless.”

PETA claimed that at least 25 orcas have died in U.S. SeaWorld facilities since 1986, none from “old age.”

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