Molotov cocktail. A US environmental activist who fire-bombed and defaced 125 sports utility vehicles was sentenced to more than eight years in jail and ordered to pay 3.5 million dollars in restitution.(AFP/File)
Posted on 04/18/2005 8:50:40 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A graduate student was sentenced Monday to more than eight years in prison and ordered to pay millions of dollars in restitution for firebombing scores of sport utility vehicles.
William Jensen Cottrell, 24, was convicted in November of conspiracy to commit arson and seven counts of arson for an August 2003 vandalism spree that damaged and destroyed about 125 SUVs.
Prosecutors estimated the total damage was about $2.3 million.
U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner sentenced Cottrell to 100 months and ordered him to pay $3.5 million in restitution. Cottrell hung his head upon hearing the sentence.
The judge said he felt sorry for Cottrell, a doctoral candidate in the physics department at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
"What a talent to have wasted," Klausner said. "There's only one person to blame for that, and I'm sure Mr. Cottrell understands that it's him."
Vandals who targeted dealerships and homes in the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles set the vehicles on fire and used spray-paint to deface them with slogans such as "Fat, Lazy Americans," "polluter," "smog machine" and "ELF," an acronym for the Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group.
Cottrell told the judge he was sorry for "any suffering" he caused to owners of the dealership and SUVs that were damaged during the attack. He said his political and environmental beliefs will not change - but his actions will.
"There's no way I'd ever be involved with anything like this remotely," he said.
Cottrell was acquitted of using a destructive device - Molotov cocktails - in a crime of violence. That was the most serious charge he faced and it carried a sentence of at least 30 years in prison.
Defense lawyers argued that Cottrell had agreed with two friends to spray-paint vehicles, but was surprised when they began to hurl Molotov cocktails.
Federal prosecutors have identified former Caltech students Tyler Johnson and Michie Oe as "fugitive co-conspirators" in the case. It is believed that both have fled the country.
Prosecutors also alleged that Cottrell tried to minimize his role and place the blame on Johnson and Oe.
Cottrell was arrested in March 2004 after authorities tracked e-mails that Cottrell, using an alias, sent to the Los Angeles Times. He told the newspaper in the e-mails that he was involved in the SUV attacks and affiliated with the Earth Liberation Front.
Klausner in January denied Cottrell's bid for a new trial. Cottrell had claimed the court improperly barred his attorneys from presenting evidence that he suffered from Asperger's syndrome, a type of autism that he claimed made it difficult for him to understand the intentions of the alleged accomplices.
Molotov cocktail. A US environmental activist who fire-bombed and defaced 125 sports utility vehicles was sentenced to more than eight years in jail and ordered to pay 3.5 million dollars in restitution.(AFP/File)
Put him away for good!
One less vote for Hillary in '08.
U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner
A Bush II appointee
From the picture, I see that proper cocktail throwing etiquette requires an extended pinkie-finger. I would totally screw that up...
Let's see how his ecosystem holds up thru 8 years of man-made environmental exploitation.
--snip--
Klausner in January denied Cottrell's bid for a new trial. Cottrell had claimed the court improperly barred his attorneys from presenting evidence that he suffered from Asperger's syndrome, a type of autism that he claimed made it difficult for him to understand the intentions of the alleged accomplices.
Soros Funds will pay his restitution, no doubt.
""There's no way I'd ever be involved with anything like this remotely," he said."
Except when he was involved with it.
He's not sorry he did it, he's just sorry he got caught. Arrogant little coward.
Another enviro-@sshole in the slammer. Good riddance.
So, were do we send his PHD? (P.issant H.alfwit D.emocrat)
"I'm a Democrat, I'm a Judge, I drive an SUV." AND THIS ASS_OLE DID WHAT! Whaa haa haaa haaa
I hope Bubba the serial rapist enjoys his new prison bitch.
Put him away. Only problem is the sentence is to short.
Be sure to say hello to "Bubba" for me, punk. Oh... BTW, don't drop the soap!
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