Posted on 05/23/2007 10:25:31 AM PDT by jazusamo
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
The horrors facing a first offender locked up with hardened criminals in the nation's high-security federal prisons highlighted testimony Tuesday in the sentencing hearing of Stanislas Meyerhoff, the first of 10 defendants to be sentenced in the Operation Backfire prosecution of radical underground environmental activists.
The hearing is expected to conclude today in Eugene before U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken, who will decide Meyerhoff's prison term and rule whether his crimes were acts of terrorism, a ruling that could bring a stiffer sentence.
Through the day, prosecution and defense lawyers dueled over whether Meyerhoff was an aggressive leader or a competent follower in the conspiracy, whether his crimes amount to terrorism, and how much danger the arsons posed to firefighters and others.
Meyerhoff, 29, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy, 59 counts of arson and other charges related to seven separate incidents. In opening statements, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Engdall revealed that Meyerhoff also was involved in nine other incidents - including tree spiking, heavy equipment and road vandalism, and destruction of genetically engineered crops - for which he is not being charged.
With a series of slides and videotapes, Engdall focused on the destruction, the danger and the motives of the arsonists. He read public statements - written by the conspirators and released by the underground front groups Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front - about some of the incidents. Engdall said the statements clearly show that the group was trying to influence or retaliate against government actions, thus meeting the legal definition of "terrorism."
Their actions put people in grave danger, Engdall said, citing the arson of the Jefferson Poplar Farm near Clatskanie in May 2001. With photos and testimony, Engdall claimed Meyerhoff hoped to ignite a 500-gallon propane tank next to the building - a claim defense lawyers later disputed with testimony from an arson expert.
Altogether, Engdall said, Meyerhoff's crimes carry a maximum of 1,245 years in prison with a mandatory 230 years. Before offering him a plea deal for 15 years and eight months, prosecutors considered his personal history, his crimes and his cooperation with prosecutors. They consulted federal attorneys in seven states and a half-dozen police agencies. They weighed sentencing laws and policy issues, such as deterring other radical activists, Engdall told Aiken.
In court documents, Meyerhoff's defense lawyers are asking Aiken to consider the minimum sentence allowed, five years, and are trying to maneuver Meyerhoff into a lower security federal prison.
In court Tuesday, they focused on Meyerhoff's repudiation of radical activism in 2001 and his devotion since then to studying engineering as a new means of trying to better the world.
They presented videotaped statements and testimony from Meyerhoff's community college instructors, who described him as brilliant, insightful and committed.
They presented statistics on rape and sexual assaults in federal prisons, noting the rate of sexual assault is more than twice as common in maximum security prisons - with 23 percent of inmates reporting it - than in minimum security settings.
Because of his arson crimes and the potential to be labeled a terrorist, Meyerhoff faces the prospect of maximum security, said Harvey Cox, a consultant who wrote the U.S. Bureau of Prisons manual for classifying inmate security before he retired.
Because Meyerhoff also is widely known to have helped prosecutors, he will wear the label of "snitch" or "rat" in prison parlance, Cox said. As such, he will share the lowest place in the prison pecking order, along with child molesters, as a target for violence, Cox said.
Because Meyerhoff is small in stature, unconnected with gangs for protection and lacking in street savvy, he will be in peril, Cox said.
Cox said his experience and the information he has about Meyerhoff shows Meyerhoff should be held in minimum custody.
"When it comes down to him being a security risk, he isn't," Cox testified.
Meyerhoff, wearing green jail clothes and a chain locked to his ankles, displayed few outward reactions Tuesday.
He shook his head and whispered to defense lawyer Richard Fredericks when Engdall accused him of traveling the country to teach arson to radical activists. He smiled when his instructors lauded his intellect. With his head down, he dabbed his nose when his mother, France Meyerhoff, 63, spoke to Aiken for eight minutes about her son and her sorrow.
"Your honor, I beg you to show mercy to my son," she said.
Aiken is required by law to consult sentencing guidelines, but has broad discretion in sentencing. She has said negotiated plea deals "weigh heavily" in how judges decide sentences.
Because Meyerhoff is small in stature, unconnected with gangs for protection and lacking in street savvy, he will be in peril, Cox said.
Perhaps Meyerhoff should have thought of the downside of going to prison before his arson set fires caused tens of millions of dollars in damage and the loss of the livelyhood of many people..
He smiled when his instructors lauded his intellect.
Too bad that supposed intellect was used to further criminal acts. Hopefully the judge sentences him to the maximum sentence.
ELF Ping!
I'm sick of these spoiled little pukes getting away with all this vandalism & destruction, hiding behind the skirt of Free Speech.
Let them suffer in prison. I'll happily approve any measure to build more prisons to house these scumbags.
PUT HIM IN THE IRON MAIDEN!
15 years hard labor splitting logs.
“Meyerhoff’s crimes carry a maximum of 1,245 years in prison with a mandatory 230 years. Before offering him a plea deal for 15 years and eight months, prosecutors considered his personal history...”
Sounds like he’s going to be doing only about 1% of his time. And he’ll be out in time to vote in the 2022 election.
White, middle-class, socially-conscious intellectual criminals who commit crimes for well-meaning ideological reasons are special people. They should get a “privileged” jail shielded from regular criminals. NOT
The hearing is expected to conclude today in Eugene before U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken, who will decide Meyerhoff's prison term and rule whether his crimes were acts of terrorism, a ruling that could bring a stiffer sentence.Through the day, prosecution and defense lawyers dueled over whether Meyerhoff was an aggressive leader or a competent follower in the conspiracy, whether his crimes amount to terrorism, and how much danger the arsons posed to firefighters and others.
Meyerhoff, 29, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy, 59 counts of arson and other charges related to seven separate incidents. In opening statements, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Engdall revealed that Meyerhoff also was involved in nine other incidents - including tree spiking, heavy equipment and road vandalism, and destruction of genetically engineered crops - for which he is not being charged.
The media wouldn't have doubts over calling someone who set fire to a single abortion clinic a "terrorist" and use it to smear the entire anti-abortion movement.
Spiking is boobytrapping. He's a mentally sick individual.
EXCELLENT!!
Correct...Pleading guilty to spiking alone should carry a 15 year sentence. Operating a chainsaw that hits a spike can be deadly and these ELF nuts think it’s no big deal.
Put him in solitary in SuperMax. He’ll be safe enough there.
Exactly...Just think how he could improve that intellect of his by studying for 15 years in solitary. :-)
WTF? Either the prosecutors have a case, or they don't....assuming they do, why wimp out with a relative wrist slap? Screw plea bargains.
Meyerhoff flipped and enabled the rest of the scum to be caught, I believe.
But his defense attorney trying to cut the 16 years down to five is ridiculous.
Well his time might not be as long as I’d like it to be but I’m holding out hope he gets raped.
Last I read he’s in jail in Canada awaiting extradition. It’s been several months since I’ve read anything.
Gee, which wrist are they going to slap him on? He confessed to crimes carring a mandatory 230 years(!), but he might do a few months in some club fed.
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