SHEEN, 28 OTHERS ACQUITTED IN PROTEST OVER INCINERATOR (2/16/92)

    EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio (AP) -- Actor Martin Sheen and 28 other 
people who said they were helping the community by protesting at a 
hazardous waste incinerator site were Acquitted of criminal 
trespassing.
    "The verdict was one of relief and one of joy," Sheen said 
Friday night after a Municipal Court jury deliberated less than two 
hours an returned the innocent verdicts. "Naturally, we're very 
happy 
and overwhelmed."
    There was no immediate comment on the verdicts from the builders 
of the incinerator, Waste Technologies Industries. Spokeswoman Julia 
Bircher did not return a message left at her home.
    Paul Boas, who represented the defendants, said the jury "saw 
the facts and went by the law."
    East Liverpool Law Director Charles Payne declined comment.
    The defendants had been charged with misdemeanor counts of 
criminal trespassing for climbing te fence at the WTI site across 
the Ohio River fo Chester, WV.
    If convicted, they could have been sentenced to 30 days in jail 
and a $250 fine.
    Sheen and the others testified that they were trying to keep the 
community from being harmed by the incinerator, a strategy known as 
a "necessity defense."
    The jury studied the issue closely. The only break in the 
deliberations came bout 9 pm when jurors returned to the courtroom 
to ask the judge fo a clarifiction on the "necessity defense" issue.
    The protesters are critical of the incinerator's location near 
homes along side the Ohio River near the Ohio, Pennsylvania and West 
Virginia borders.
    The defendnts were amoung 36 people arrested during protests. 
Oct. 13 and 14. One person pleaded guilty to trespassing, four waived 
jury trials and two others had the charges against them reduced.

