Five peace activists were found guilty Tuesday of trespassing for refusing to leave Sen. Wayne Allard's Englewood office last April.

The case has drawn public attention because an undercover officer with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office infiltrated the group and was arrested with them when they demanded to meet with the U.S. senator.

Defense attorneys focused on why the sheriff's department would "spy" on a nonviolent political group. They argued that officers involved in the case had lied in reports and could not be trusted.

The defendants, attorneys said, were engaging in civil disobedience.

"They wanted to express themselves to their elected representative," attorney Martin Stuart said. "This isn't al-Qaeda. ... We've got some cops that are basically doing whatever they want."

Prosecutors called the defense a "sideshow" and likened the defense's strategy to a matador teasing a bull with his cape.

"The defense in this case has been waving that cape at you for two days now," Deputy District Attorney Jason Loughman told the jury.

Jennifer Greenberg, Bonnie McCormick, Sarah Jane Geraldi, Lisa Kunkel and Raphael Egger were among protesters on April 14, 2003, who intended to present Allard with a resolution to end the war in Iraq.

Allard was not in the office. But senior members of his staff met with the group.

Still, the protesters refused to leave when the office closed. Geraldi said said she feared for family members fighting in Iraq.

"I am not willing to lose my loved ones for reasons I don't think are legitimate," Geraldi said during the trial.

Prosecutors showed a video recording of a sheriff's deputy asking protesters to leave before six of them - including Darren Christensen, the undercover deputy - were arrested.

Christensen testified he went undercover that day and at a meeting the day before to make sure the protest would not be violent. He is now with the Elbert County Sheriff's Office.

The jury of one woman and five men deliberated for about 20 minutes.

"The videotape was the most damning," jury foreman Randy Adams said later. "As soon as we went back there we could have taken the vote."

Adams said he respected that all five defendants were passionate, but he said that showing up without an appointment and demanding face time with a senator is "inappropriate."

All five faced up to six months in jail for the misdemeanor charge, but received a $50 fine and had to pay court fees.

Copyright 2004 The Denver Post

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