The six-woman jury deliberated just 12 minutes before acquitting Kelly Palmer, 44, of a charge of disorderly conduct for obstructing traffic. The gallery, made up largely of longshore supporters, burst into applause as jurors left the courtroom.
“I’m relieved,” Kelly Palmer of Toutle said after the daylong trial. “I’ve never been arrested in my life. I couldn’t believe I was being arrested when I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Leal Sundet, ILWU coast committeeman, said EGT engineered the arrests to make the union look bad.
“Today’s trial clearly demonstrated the collusion between the county and EGT,” he said. “It was EGT’s hired union-busting security chief that set the stage for the arrest as a means to discredit the union. The county happily cooperated in undisguised support of EGT and needlessly wasted taxpayers’ dollars in prosecuting the case. Once again the jury got it right.”