Posted on 05/29/2008 8:58:28 AM PDT by jazusamo
Federal prosecutors are seeking a 10-year prison sentence for Briana Waters, a California woman convicted in March by a federal grant jury of assisting in the 2001 Earth Liberation Front arson that destroyed the University of Washington's Urban Horticulture Center.
That recommendation includes a "terrorism enhancement," according to a sentencing memorandum filed by prosecutors Wednesday in U.S. District Court. The UW arson sought to strike a blow against genetic engineering of poplar trees, and federal prosecutors say that meets the legal definition of a violent act "calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion," according to the court filing.
Defense attorney Neil Fox, in his own sentencing memorandum, said his client should not be subject to a terrorism enhancement. He asked that a five-year mandatory minimum sentence be partially suspended, and proposed 18 months in prison for Waters' part in the arson that targeted the office of UW poplar researcher Toby Bradshaw.
Fox noted that his client was not convicted of being part of an Earth Liberation Front conspiracy — a charge that prosecutors sought unsuccessfully to prove, and wrote that the UW arson was not an act of terrorism...
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
You can say that again!
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Excerpt:
Sentencing delayed for UW arsonist
Sentencing delayed for UW arsonist
By GENE JOHNSON
AP Legal Affairs Writer
SEATTLE — Sentencing has been indefinitely delayed for a woman convicted in an arson at the University of Washington, following new developments about evidence that was presented at her trial.
Briana Waters was convicted this year of two counts of arson for her role as a lookout in the 2001 Earth Liberation Front fire that destroyed the university's Center for Urban Horticulture. Her sentencing was set for Monday at U.S. District Court in Tacoma, with prosecutors requesting 10 years in prison.
But that sentencing was stricken from the court calendar today after the U.S. attorney's office learned new information about a small piece of evidence used at the trial: anarchist articles that Waters supposedly gave to Jennifer Kolar, a witness who had pleaded guilty to arson and related charges in the UW fire and then testified against Waters.
Kolar identified Waters as a participant, and while on the stand she testified that Waters had given her the anarchist articles in a folder — supposed evidence of Waters' mind-set around the time of the fire. Kolar testified she never read the articles, and she put them in a plastic tub that she stored at her house until she turned them over to her lawyer.
Kolar's lawyer contacted the U.S. attorney's office on Tuesday to say her testimony was misleading: In reality, after Kolar was contacted by the FBI about the arson, she asked a friend to remove the tub from her home. Eventually the tub was returned to Kolar and her lawyer, who turned it over to investigators.
The identity of the friend was redacted in court papers, but defense lawyers identified the person as someone Kolar used as a "secret intermediary" when dealing with others in the radical environmentalist movement. That another person had custody of the documents raised questions about the integrity of the evidence.
Prosecutors called the development insignificant, and they said much more substantial evidence proved Waters' role, but they acknowledged defense attorneys should have two or three weeks to investigate.
Ping!
I seriously doubt this as it is prohibited to tell a jury the possible sentence a defendant faces if convicted of the charges for which they are being tried. Unless she looked it up herself, which is doubtful, she wouldn't have known at trial.
That info was all over the news media long before the trial began. There’s no doubt in my mind that every jury member knew it.
Then the US Attorney who conducted the trial should be fired. That's the very first question the prosecution requests the judge to ask during voire dire so anyone with such knowledge can be stricked for cause. Litigation 101.
striked = striken
Sounds like Kolar’s mouthpiece has been co-opted.
It shouldn’t matter; the defendant has a long history of advocacy of anarchy.
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