Lucy Lawless Pleads Guilty To Trespassing Charges

No, Lucy wasn't just being needlessly "lawless" when she was arrested for boarding an oil ship drilling outside New Zealand and preventing it from leaving the docks. It turns out that Lucy Lawless, 44, the famed star of Xena: Warrior Princess and a Greenpeace activist, is seriously dedicated to stopping oil exploration in the Arctic.

Lawless pleaded guilty to the trespassing charges alongside seven other Greenpeace activists, who occupied the oil-drilling ship with her. Burglary charges were initially leveled against Lawless and the group, but they were commuted to the lesser trespassing charge at the last minute.

"I had to do what I had to do," Lawless told the New Zealand Herald of the ship occupation. "We want to tell [those responsible for deep-sea oil drilling], absolutely under no circumstances is this a good idea. They are robbing our children of their birthright to a clean and healthy planet and they know it," she said.

On February 24, Lawless and the seven other protestors entered a restricted Shell-owned area at Port Taranaki, where they occupied the oil ship, Noble Explorer, to prevent its scheduled exploratory drilling off of Alaska. The group remained on top of the 175-foot drilling tower for 77 hours — an event that was heavily covered by international media outlets. "I think we've helped kick off a great movement," Lawless said.

If convicted of the charges, Lawless, who now plays in the Starz series, Spartacus: Vengeance with Manu Bennett and Andy Whitfield, could face up to three years behind bars, though she expects that she and her fellow activists will not serve jail time, since their protest was peaceful.

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