San Diego's grand jury subpoenaed ten local activists who attended a lecture by animal-rights activist Rod Coronado a few hours after the fire began in August 2003. Coronado was imprisoned in the 1990s after burning down an animal-testing lab in Michigan, but he claims that he arrived in San Diego from Arizona after the fire had begun. No arrests have been made in the arson, and a $100,000 FBI reward for information on the fire has gone unclaimed.

Though the group has no known leader or power structure, the FBI and local authorities honed in on Coronado's lecture. Attendees of the Hillcrest event have been targeted with a series of FBI raids, culminating in the grand jury's issuance of subpoenas demanding that the activists testify and state whether they attended the open lecture, as well as name others who were present. Agranoff, Kelley, and Nicole Fink pled the Fifth Amendment during their hearings and refused to testify. The three were subsequently imprisoned for contempt of court.

Critics point out that the First Amendment provides for free association and claim that the grand jury is using this as an opportunity to harass and question members of the activist community. "The grand jury is an arbitrary secret entity that exists and implements power without any checks and balances," says Janice Jordan of the San Diego Peace and Freedom Party. She recently organized a "Copwatch" conference dealing with issues of police brutality and community response. "Anyone can be accused of anything without legal representation present. This is truly frightening in a country whose governments proclaim it to be a democracy."

Agranoff and Kelley were released after an appeals court ruled that bail should have been set. Grand jury investigations are secret, so testimony from other activists is unavailable to the public and the extent of their investigation is unclear. But the activist community insists that the jury is taking advantage of an unrelated incident to pump it for information—and is violating precious civil rights in the process.

Civil rights watchdogs express concern that those subpoenaed are forced to testify by a local body that does not allow them to have counsel or call their own witnesses. An informal survey of San Diegans revealed that three in four are unsure of the grand jury's origin or function. Additionally, can activists really effectively resist grand juries? "As long as activists and community organizers stand their ground and refuse to allow ‘fear’ to dictate their actions, the indictments aren't worth much more than the paper they are written on," states Jordan.

For now, it looks like San Diego activists will hold that firm resolve—at least until the grand jury's term expires in December for another year.