United States v. Maxwell
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
89 P.3d 484 (2004)
Raul Maxwell-Anthony (defendant) trespassed onto a Navy live-fire training range on Vieques, Puerto Rico, three times without authorization to protest Navy training exercises, and was charged with misdemeanor trespass. Maxwell raised a necessity defense, arguing his trespass was necessary to prevent nearby nuclear submarines from conducting live-fire exercises and that he had no other option but to break the law; the district court rejected the defense before a bench trial and convicted and sentenced him to 30 days in prison.
Whether a necessity defense is permissible where the defendant, faced with imminent harm, acted to prevent the greater of two evils, reasonably anticipated a direct causal relationship between his acts and the harm averted, and had no reasonable legal alternative.