"The Misconduct Was Pervasive" - Line 3 Non-Violent Protestor's Felony Conviction Overturned By Appeals Court

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Mylene Vialard, 56, was found guilty of felony obstruction in 2023 for her role in trying to halt construction of a fossil-fuel pipeline through Indigenous territory in Minnesota, in a trial beset by irregularities. Vialard was charged after attaching herself to a 25ft bamboo tower erected to block a pumping station in Aitkin county in August 2021, as part of a crackdown on non-violent Indigenous-led protests opposing the expansion and re-routing on Line 3 – a 1,097-mile tar sands oil pipeline with a dismal safety record that crosses more than 200 bodies of water from Alberta in Canada to refineries in the US midwest.

According to legal groups representing the activists, Vialard was among more than a thousand people arrested by Minnesota law enforcement – which along with other agencies reportedly received at least $8.6m in payments from the Canadian company Enbridge, which is behind Line 3.

On Monday, the conviction was overturned and a new trial ordered by the Minnesota court of appeals. “Weighing the relevant factors, we conclude that the prosecutorial misconduct conceded to by the state was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. The state’s evidence against Vialard was not particularly strong, the misconduct was pervasive, and the district court’s instructions did not cure any prejudicial effect of the misconduct,” the three-judge panel found.

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The week-long trial in August 2021 was beset by delays and legal arguments amid multiple alleged violations by the prosecution. In one incident, a sheriff’s deputy was caught broadcasting the Zoom audio from inside the courtroom into the public hallways of the courthouse, which is used by jurors and witnesses alike – in violation of sequestration rules and the court’s own pre-trial order barring public Zoom access to the trial. In court, the prosecutor incorrectly claimed Vialard was not an American citizen – she was born in France – and that she had been trespassing when arrested, despite having been repeatedly admonished by the judge as a trespass charge was previously dismissed.The week-long trial in August 2021 was beset by delays and legal arguments amid multiple alleged violations by the prosecution.

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/16/farmers-trump-tariffs-climate-change