Climate activist found ‘not guilty’ on felony charge as Hanscom protest trials begin: updated

A climate activist facing a rare felony charge in connection with a protest at Hanscom Field last year has been found not guilty of the two most serious counts against him.

Brian Okum’s was the first of several expected trials for participants in the April 2024 protest, which opposed planned jet hangar expansion. 

A jury deliberated for roughly one hour at Acton District Court Tuesday and acquitted Okum of felony malicious destruction of property more than $1,200 and disorderly conduct. Okum was convicted on a trespassing count and sentenced to one year of probation.

A spokesperson for the Middlesex County District Attorney’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the Okum verdict.

Rick Muse —  the director of operations at Runway Realty Ventures LLC, which is one of the developers behind the Hanscom hangar project — had no comment on the Okum verdict when reached by phone Wednesday morning.

Okum’s attorney, Kylah Clay, said “the Commonwealth should be ashamed of themselves” for pursuing what she said were “baseless charges.”  

Lawyers are preparing for more trials as soon as next week. Though they felt some relief following the verdict, supporters were still frustrated, saying prosecutors went too far. 

Okum said he’s “angry that there’s punishment to begin with [for] doing something that we know is right.” But he said he expected this result.

“It’s a little Kafkaesque in that you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Okum said of the legal process since his arrest. “I’m relieved, for the most part, that the wait is over.” 

While they’re ready to return for trials throughout the summer, supporters hope favorable verdicts in initial cases will prompt prosecutors to back down. Already, Clay said, the time has come. 

“Otherwise, it’s a waste of court resources and taxpayer dollars,” she said.

April protest

The advocacy group, Extinction Rebellion, organized the Hanscom protest on April 20, 2024. Police arrested Okum and 20 others after they allegedly breached a secure area at the airport. Roughly 50 police officers responded, according to court testimony, and the incident disrupted activity at Hanscom for roughly 3.5 hours. 

Other defendants faced misdemeanors, including trespassing and disorderly conduct. Prosecutors added the destruction of property charge against Okum after they said he forced open and damaged a door to the tarmac. 

In her closing argument, Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Kelly said the prosecution isn’t trying to punish people for protesting. But she said demonstrators “took it too far” when they broke from a larger group of roughly 80 protesters and entered the secure area. 

She showed surveillance video of a person opening the door that prosecutors claim was damaged. While the picture is grainy, she said evidence showed the figure at the door was Okum. Kelly later showed a video of protesters walking between parked airplanes. 

Kelly said Okum was angry about the prospect of extra pollution from a feared uptick in private jet flights after the hangar expansion. She said he “arguably was hostile for this cause.”

Clay said the door video was inconclusive. Citing jury instructions from the judge, she said, “I don’t see cruelty, hostility, or revenge” in her client’s alleged actions. She also questioned whether a mechanism in the door was already broken before the protest. 

“How can we pin this all on Mr. Okum?” she asked.

A representative for Jet Aviation, the company that owned the door referenced in this case, said “there’s no one present that can speak to” The Bridge’s questions about the acquittal. When asked for an email or phone number to leave a message, the representative declined to provide one.

‘I’m just so glad’

Extinction Rebellion spokesperson Jamie McGonagill said Okum would have been the first climate activist in Massachusetts to receive a felony conviction for participating in a peaceful protest. When the jury foreperson announced the panel’s not guilty verdicts, McGonagill cried. 

In an email Tuesday night, McGonagill said Okum is still the first person in the history of Extinction Rebellion’s Boston chapter to receive a conviction of any sort.

Speaking with The Acton Bridge, Lara Sullivan from the Coalition to Stop Private Jet Expansion at Hanscom said, “it was scary for [Okum] to be tried like that.”

She said it was also “not normal” for the judge to try defendants separately. 

“I’m just so glad that this was the verdict and that there still is hope for climate activists to be able to make a difference and to not be grossly mischarged,” she said. 

While the legal process plays out, the Hanscom hangar expansion has moved forward. In March, a Massport official said federal funding cuts impacting other projects shouldn’t hit hangar efforts. 

A spokesperson for the developer behind the project confirmed they were proceeding with the regulatory process.

May 14, 9:10 a.m.: This breaking story has been updated.