Posted on 07/22/2005 7:31:15 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Federal prosecutors have dropped four extortion charges against an animal rights activist who was accused of freeing thousands of mink from farms around the Midwest.
Prosecutors said they were forced to act because a Supreme Court decision changed the legal definition of extortion while Peter Daniel Young was on the run. The ruling found someone must actually take something from another person, authorities said.
The surprise move shocked the owner of a farm where authorities said Young helped free 300 mink in 1997.
"You've got to be kidding. Unbelievable. Unbelievable," said Alex Ott, owner of Ott's Mink Ranch in Tomahawk.
Young, 27, of Mercer Island, Wash., still faces two counts of animal enterprise terrorism - misdemeanors that each carry up to a year in prison. The four counts of interference with commerce by extortion each carried up to 20 years.
"I'm pretty pleased, as is Peter," said Young's attorney, Chris Kelly. "We're in a much better position."
Prosecutors believe Young is part of the Animal Liberation Front, a group that aims to destroy animal-related industries. He and alleged accomplice Justin Samuel were indicted in 1998 on the six charges. Prosecutors say the pair broke onto five farms in Iowa, South Dakota and Wisconsin in 1997 and freed around 7,000 mink.
Samuel cooperated with authorities and got two years in prison. Young had vanished until this past March, when he was arrested in San Jose, Calif., for shoplifting CDs from a Starbucks.
Yech!
So, if terrorism is P.C., I guess it's acceptable.
Dictatorship by judge.
Get him for fleeing. I'm sure that's a crime in itself.
So if the Russian mob threatens a business, they can't arrest until money has been transferred to Sweden, or somebody is dead.
These folks & company left track, in multiple states. It ain't over yet, not by a mule kick or a dog tick'd judge.
Thanks. I've been following this story for years.
Sheesh.
Congressman Billybob
So isn't this jackass still liable for the monetary value of the minks he released. Make him pay through his probably pierced nose.
Next time he comes around just make him quitely disappear, permentantly.
So if I release a grizzly in the judge's house that's a misdemeanor. Cool.
Quietly?? I say catch the slime bag and tie him down, throw a little chicken liver on him and then let the little rodents lose after they haven't been fed for a fews days! See how inclined they are to help "free" their kindred spirit!!
Works for me! Or fertilize a tree with him.
I would not be particular how he disappears, so long as it is permanent.
THey mostly killed each other when they got out of their cages. The remainder simply competed with other animals. Some of them hit other folks chicken ops and wiped them out.
They could get him here in WI if, extradited and the witness shows for burglary/felony damage to property.
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