Alaska News

Xena in trouble! Lawless pleads guilty to trespassing

On Thursday, Lucy Lawless, best known for her role as Xena on the popular 1990's show "Xena: Warrior Princess," joined seven other Greenpeace activists in pleading guilty to trespassing.

The Greenpeace team made up of Lawless, Jan Hammer, Mike Buchanan, Shayne Comino, Vivienne Hadlow, Shai Naides, Zach Penman and IIai Amir are accused of unlawfully boarding and occupying a Shell drillship in Auckland, New Zealand.

In February, the eight activist boarded The Noble Discoverer a ship designated by Shell for oil exploration in Alaska's Chukchi Sea this summer. The occupation lasted three days and took place in Taranaki while the ship awaited deployment. Now the activists are pleading guilty to trespass charges in an Auckland District Court, according to New Zealand news source APNZ.

The eight are scheduled to appear in court for sentencing Sept. 14. The group's lawyer, Ron Mansfield, asked to postpone entering a conviction against the eight to boost the prospect of a discharge without conviction.

Of the protest in New Zealand, APNZ reports 44-year-old Lawless as saying, "we want to tell (those (responsible for deep sea oil drilling that) absolutely under no circumstances is this a good idea. They are robbing our children of their birth right tot clean and healthy planet and they know it."

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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