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Jail Time? Lawyers turn up one AR against others. #599369
02/26/08 02:14 PM
02/26/08 02:14 PM
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Indymedia
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/02/372574.shtml

Briana Waters Trial Update..
author: Olycivlib
e-mail: olycivlib(at)riseup.net
Summary of 2/20 and 2/21 - and announce

Briana Waters trial continues this week. Yesterday the defense
finished the slow moving cross examination of Briana's cousin, Robert
Corrina.

The prosecution went through a couple witnesses, a nurse from St.
peter's hospital, and a nurse from Capital Medical Center in Olympia.

Also David Peterson , Avalon's former landlord. They went into detail
showing how Avalon paid the landlord under the alias "Todd Hager" .

Then The proscution Interviewed Jen Kolar for most of the afternoon,
and Fox began cross examination.

Today, Thursday, Fox cross examined Kolar all morning. Then they moved
to take a witness out of turn and put Bill Wake on the stand, who
testified that basically, Justin Solondz rented from him in 2001 for
several months, and ID'ed a check made out to him from Briana for $124
with "justin's rent and bills" on the memo line. On cross he described
the dwelling as a "handmade motorhome on the back of a '54 3-ton
truck". He described the size of the place, and that there were other
places to sit besides the bed, finishing with "It'd be more
inconvenient [for a second person] to sit on the bed actually".

The Defense then finished examining Jennifer Kolar. Full notes for
these two days of testimony from Corrina and Jen K. will be
forthcoming as soon as possible.

At the end of the day, there was a brief witness, Valerie Betty, and
FBI fingerprint expert, who documented how she determined that a
fingerprint on a manila envelope matched Briana Waters' Right Middle
finger.

Then the prosecution started Examining BATF Agent Timothy Watkins,
about his response to the Susanville BLM Wild Horse Corral. The Direct
questioning will finished tomorrow, followed by the Cross, and then
the Prosecution is expected to present their LAST witness, FBI Agent
Halla..

SO The prosecution will probably rest its case tomorrow.

Tomorrow should be an interesting day, with possible disclosure of how
the FBI mishandled the investigation and the evidence. Heather Moore
is not being called to testify.

Unofficial Transcripts

Notes from Days 1 & 2
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20080213185724155

Notes from Days 2 & 3
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20080214012429273

Notes from Lacey Phillabaum's testimony (part 1)
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20080215172711613

Notes from Lacey Phillabaum's testimony (part 2)
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20080220011833636

Notes from Lacey Phillabaum's testimony (part 3) and Notes from 2/19
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20080220012740232

List of Names that Appeared in Court
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20080217183629347


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Mac Leod Motto
Re: Jail Time? Lawyers turn up one AR against others. [Re: Mira Trapper] #599376
02/26/08 02:18 PM
02/26/08 02:18 PM
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I'm sorry, Mira, but I haven't followed this, what is the relevancy of the seating arrangement in a homemade motorhome?


It takes 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, but only 3 for a proper trigger squeeze.
Re: Jail Time? Lawyers turn up one AR against othe [Re: Ole Hawkeye] #603524
02/28/08 12:24 PM
02/28/08 12:24 PM
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Follow up story.


Seattle Times
Defendant in UW ecoterror trial takes stand, denies involvement
By GENE JOHNSON
AP Legal Affairs Writer
Thursday, February 28, 2008


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004247469_apwstecoterrortrial3rdldwritethru.html

A 32-year-old violin teacher accused of serving as a lookout while her
friends planted a devastating fire bomb at the University of
Washington in 2001 took the stand in her own defense Wednesday,
telling jurors she had no part in the crime and never believed in
setting fires to make political statements.

"It's very dangerous to human lives," Briana Waters, of Oakland,
Calif., testified in U.S. District Court. "I've always been someone
who feels very strongly about not hurting people in any way."

Waters was one of five people indicted in the arson at the
university's Center for Urban Horticulture, and she faces a minimum of
35 years in prison if convicted of conspiracy, possessing an
unregistered destructive device, arson and use of a destructive device
during a crime of violence.

The fire was one of the most notorious in a string of arsons
perpetrated by Eugene, Ore.- and Olympia-based members of the Earth
Liberation Front, a loosely organized collection of radical
environmentalists, from the mid-1990s to 2001. Eventually, more than a
dozen people were indicted following a nine-year investigation into
arsons around the West.

No one was hurt in the UW arson, but the center was destroyed and
rebuilt at a cost of $7 million. It was targeted because the ELF
activists mistakenly believed researchers there were genetically
engineering poplar trees.

Two defendants, Lacey Phillabaum and Jennifer Kolar, have pleaded
guilty. They testified against Waters earlier in the trial. The other
two alleged participants were William "Avalon" Rodgers, who committed
suicide in jail, and Waters' then-boyfriend, Justin Solondz, who
remains at large.

Phone records, rental car records and testimony indicate Waters was in
contact with at least some of the others around the time of the fire,
and that she obtained a rental car used in the crime.

Waters has been staying in a Tacoma rental home during the trial.
Wearing gold-framed glasses and with her long blond hair pulled back,
she testified in a soft, firm voice, frequently mentioning the young
daughter she will rarely see if convicted.

Waters' lawyers, Neil Fox and Robert Bloom, insist that prosecutors
have overreached by threatening draconian sentences to persuade those
charged in the UW fire and other arsons to plead guilty or testify
falsely. Waters is the only one of more than a dozen activists charged
who declined to plead guilty, instead taking her chances before a
jury.

"She was part of a conspiracy in which millions of dollars of damage
was done," U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan said after court let out for
the day. "That's why it's a serious crime and has serious penalties."

Bloom suggested that the government's only evidence in the case is the
testimony of Kolar and Phillabaum, who are expected to receive more
lenient sentences in exchange for their cooperation. Waters claimed on
the stand that the two are trying to frame her: Phillabaum because she
too had a relationship with Solondz, and Kolar because Waters spurned
her sexual advances.

Phillabaum and Kolar denied those allegations earlier in the trial,
and while cross examining Waters, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark
Bartlett noted that Phillabaum told federal investigators that Waters
had obtained a rental car from a relative for use in the arson.

The records of Budget Rental Car in Olympia later corroborated
Phillabaum's account: Waters' cousin had rented a vehicle the weekend
of the university fire, and he testified that Waters used it. Soon
after, a $200 cash deposit appeared in his bank account _ the only
cash deposit he made all year, money to reimburse him for the rental
car's cost, in the government's view.

In his questioning, Bartlett suggested that to believe Waters was not
involved, jurors would have to believe that Phillabaum made a "lucky
guess" when she told investigators a story supported by rental car
records.

"I don't know how that would have happened," Waters responded.

Bartlett also pointed to a 1998 New York Times Magazine article about
radical environmentalists which quotes Waters, then a senior at The
Evergreen State College in Olympia, as saying she "totally" supported
arsons "as long as people don't get hurt." Tiffany Tudder, a fellow
student at the time, testified that she remembered Waters making that
statement.

Waters said she could not remember whether she said it or not, but
added that she would be surprised if she did, because she has always
opposed politically motivated arsons.

The defense rested its case Wednesday. Closing arguments were expected
by the end of the week.

Last edited by Mira Trapper; 02/28/08 12:26 PM.

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Mac Leod Motto
Re: Jail Time? Lawyers turn up one AR against othe [Re: Mira Trapper] #605547
02/29/08 01:41 PM
02/29/08 01:41 PM
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Gone to Jury::


The Olympian (WA)
Arson case goes to jury
Christian Hill
February 29, 2008
http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/374365.html

TACOMA — A jury will begin deliberations this morning in the trial of
a former Olympia resident accused of participating in an arson that
destroyed a University of Washington research center nearly seven
years ago.

The government contends Briana Waters, 32, served as a lookout as
four co-conspirators broke into the UW's Center of Urban Horticulture
and placed an incendiary device that burst into flame around 3 a.m. on
May 21, 2001. Waters, who now lives in Oakland, Calif., has denied
involvement in the arson and said she likely was asleep in Olympia
when it occurred. She was attending The Evergreen State College at the
time.

She faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 35 years in prison, if
convicted of all crimes, including arson, conspiracy and use of a
destructive device during a crime of violence. Attorneys for the
government and Waters used their closing arguments Thursday in U.S.
District Court in Tacoma to focus on the testimony of two women who
confessed to their role in the arson and separately took the stand to
identify Waters as a co-conspirator.

Prosecutors said the testimony of Jennifer Kolar, Lacey Phillabaum and
others corroborated physical evidence they could not know existed
unless they were telling the truth.

They said Waters' defense counsel had no factual evidence to undercut
their theory of Waters' involvement in the arson, leaving her to claim
she is telling the truth while everyone else is lying.

"Her lies tell you she's guilty," First Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark
Bartlett told the jurors. "She can't tell you a better story than
this."

Waters' attorney, Robert Bloom, countered that the government's case
was built on the word of two women — whom he described as "criminals"
— who agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for lesser
prison sentences.

"She has lied in this very courtroom," Bloom said of Kolar, "and
they're asking you to rely on her to convict Briana Waters."

Bloom said both women had reasons to be bitter at Waters. Waters
testified that she turned down a sexual advance by Kolar and had a
heated confrontation with Phillabaum about Phillabaum's alleged sexual
encounter with Waters' then-boyfriend, Justin Soldondz.

Prosecutors allege Soldondz was part of the five-member team and is
now a fugitive. William Rodgers, a close friend of Waters and the
apparent ringleader in this and other arsons, committed suicide in an
Arizona jail cell shortly after his arrest in 2005.
"This woman is innocent," Bloom said. "She didn't do this. The
evidence that has been presented is not credible evidence."

Bartlett acknowledge that both women had a motive to cooperate with
prosecutors. What, he asked, was their motive in identifying Waters?
To conspire together to frame an innocent woman?

"That's just a bunch of garbage, and you know it," he told the jurors.

The attorneys also sparred over whether Waters' stop at Ralph's
Thriftway in Olympia about eight hours before the fire proved she had
an alibi.

A record provided by her defense team shows Waters made a $13 purchase
at Ralph's at 7:12 p.m., and Bloom said she wouldn't have had time to
get to Seattle and meet the group at a restaurant before they drove to
the UW campus.

Prosecutors countered that Waters had time to arrive at the restaurant
between 8 and 9 p.m., the hour the two women testified the group
gathered. An FBI agent testified earlier in the day that he made the
trip from the grocery store to the Seattle restaurant Wednesday
evening in 68 minutes.

"This is some kind of exculpatory evidence?" Bartlett asked, referring
to the receipt. "Don't be ridiculous."

But Waters' defense team held fast, documenting there was Interstate 5
construction and local road closures that evening that would have
lengthened the commute.

"It's not 68 minutes," Bloom said. "It's an hour and 68 minutes."

Waters asked her cousin to secure the rental car that she and other
co-conspirators drove to Seattle, telling him she would be able to
move some of her belongings from his home. The evening before the
arson, Waters asked to borrow the car because she was ill and needed
to go to the emergency room. Representatives of Providence St. Peter
Hospital and Capital Medical Center said they had no records of her
going to their emergency rooms. She later told her cousin she drove to
Seattle to receive treatment.

Soldondz's bank records show he withdrew $200 in cash on May 19, the
day the car was rented. Waters' cousin deposited $200 in cash — his
lone cash deposit of the year — several days later.

Prosecutors allege Waters was a member of a cell of the Animal
Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front known as "The Family,"
whose members set or attempted to set at least 17 fires between 1996
and 2001 throughout the Northwest and in Colorado.

The group wanted to destroy corporate and government operations they
thought were harming the environment and animals, and prosecutors said
they targeted the UW research center under the mistaken belief that
genetic engineering of poplar trees was taking place there.

Another arson occurred on the same morning at an Oregon poplar farm,
allegedly by another five-member group of the ALF/ELF cell.

The center was rebuilt at a cost of $7 million and reopened three years ago.

Christian Hill covers the city of Lacey and military for The Olympian.
He can be reached at 360-754-5427 or chill@theolympian.com.


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Re: Jail Time? Lawyers turn up one AR against othe [Re: Mira Trapper] #613238
03/04/08 03:25 PM
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KNDO (Yakima, WA)Tacoma jury ponders verdict in ecoterror arson caseAssociated PressMarch 4, 2008 11:15 AM EThttp://www.kndo.com/Global/story.asp?S=7962585&nav=menu484_2_10 TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - A federal jury in Tacoma begins a third day of deliberation in the trial of a woman accused of the ecoterror arson at the University of Washington. If convicted of the Earth Liberation Front fire in 2001, Briana Waters could face 35 years in prison.



The case against the 32-year-old of Oakland, Calif., woman went to the jury on Friday. Prosecutors say she was the lookout in 2001 when the Earth Liberation Front set fire to the Center for Urban Horticulture on the campus in Seattle. It cost the university $7 million to replace the building. ELF claimed responsibility for the fire. Investigators said the group mistakenly believed the center was genetically modifying trees. Waters testified she had nothing to do with the arson.


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Re: Jail Time? Lawyers turn up one AR against othe [Re: Mira Trapper] #613246
03/04/08 03:26 PM
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The Seattle Times
UW arson-case jurors say they've reached verdicts on some counts
By Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporter
March 6, 2008
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004263873_uwarson06m.html

TACOMA — Jurors in the trial of a California woman accused of
participating in the 2001 arson at the University of Washington's
Center for Urban Horticulture have deadlocked on some of the five
federal felony charges she is facing.

Late Wednesday, after more than three days of deliberating the fate of
Briana Waters, jurors sent a note to U.S. District Judge Franklin
Burgess that read, "We are unable to reach a unanimous decision on all
counts: How do we proceed?"

The judge asked the jurors, without being specific, if they had
reached unanimous verdicts on at least some of the charges, and the
jurors responded "Yes." There was no indication whether the verdicts
were guilty or not guilty, or which of the five charges have led to
the deadlock.

Waters stood silently holding the hand of her attorney, Robert Bloom,
while the judge and attorneys discussed when she would hear her fate.

Prosecutors urged the judge to accept whatever verdicts had been
reached, but Burgess refused and sent the jury home for the night.
Today, it is expected that Burgess will poll the jurors to determine
whether there is any chance continued deliberations will result in
additional verdicts.

Waters, 32, of Oakland, could face a minimum of 35 years in prison if
convicted of all charges, including a 30-year mandatory sentence for
using a destructive device while committing a crime of violence — in
this case the May 2001 arson at the UW's Center for Urban
Horticulture. She is charged with one count of conspiracy, two counts
of arson and two charges stemming from the use and possession of a
homemade time-delayed gasoline bomb used to start the fire.

The government alleges Waters helped rent a car used by the arsonists
and stood lookout while others set the device.

Federal officials say the fire, which caused millions of dollars in
damage, was one of at least 17 fires set by radical activists with the
Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front from 1996
to 2001. Waters was allegedly part of a "family" of ELF activists
living in Eugene, Ore., and Olympia, where she attended The Evergreen
State College.

The trial in U.S. District Court in Tacoma unfolded over three weeks,
with jurors hearing contradictory testimony from witnesses and Waters
that forced them to decide who was lying on the witness stand. Two
women who had pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with federal
authorities said Waters was an accomplice. Waters took the witness
stand to proclaim her innocence.

Jurors had been deliberating since Friday and resumed Monday — the
same day arson destroyed three multimillion-dollar homes in Snohomish
County and damaged a fourth in what federal officials are
investigating as crimes that may be linked to ELF.

Judge Burgess called jurors into the courtroom Monday morning to ask
whether any of them had read or heard news of an event that might
cause them to be unable to continue deliberations, a reference to the
arsons. No one withdrew.

Defense attorneys made an unsuccessful motion for a mistrial.

Seattle Times staff reporter Hal Bernton contributed to this report.
Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com

Last edited by Mira Trapper; 03/06/08 02:37 PM.

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Re: Jail Time? Lawyers turn up one AR against othe [Re: Mira Trapper] #617629
03/06/08 02:39 PM
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Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Verdict in eco-terror case likely today
By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
P-I REPORTER
March 5, 2008 10:22 p.m. PT
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/353878_ecoterror06.html

TACOMA -- After four days of deliberation, a verdict will likely be
delivered Thursday in the trial of a woman accused of an eco-terror
fire at a University of Washington research center.

The jury sent a note Wednesday afternoon to U.S. District Judge
Franklin Burgess, saying they could not reach a unanimous verdict on
all five federal counts, which include conspiracy, arson and use of a
destructive device.

But Burgess said, "They have made a unanimous decision on something."

Burgess sent jurors home for the day and asked them to return Thursday morning.

Briana Waters, a 32-year-old violin teacher from Oakland, Calif.,
faces a minimum prison sentence of 35 years if found guilty of all
counts in connection with the May 2001 firebombing of the Center for
Urban Horticulture. The Earth Liberation Front has claimed
responsibility for the blaze.

As jurors entered the courtroom to be addressed by Burgess, Waters
stood with her attorney, Robert Bloom, holding his hand.

None of the jurors made eye contact with the defendant.

A defense attorney and a federal prosecutor declined to comment afterward.

Waters is accused of acting as the lookout while other radical
environmentalists broke into the center located near the University
Village mall and planted an incendiary device.

The blaze destroyed the building and irreplaceable botanical and
ecological research materials, and killed specimens of rare and
endangered plants. The UW spent $7 million to replace the building. No
injuries were reported.

Waters testified during the trial that she had nothing to do with the
arson, but two admitted ELF firebombers -- Lacey Phillabaum and
Jennifer Kolar -- implicated her in their testimony.

Waters maintained that the government's star witnesses harbored biases
against her and couldn't be believed. Bloom said they have a motive to
lie -- sharply reduced prison time.

Prosecutors say phone records, rental-car records and testimony
indicate Waters was in contact with at least some of the other alleged
conspirators around the time of the fire.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Bartlett produced a 10-year-old New
York Times Magazine article about radical environmentalists in which
Waters -- then a senior at The Evergreen State College in Olympia --
was asked if she supported arsons and mink-farm releases. She replied,
"As long as people don't get hurt, I totally support it."

Of the five people accused of plotting the UW arson, one has since
committed suicide in jail, one is on the run, and Phillabaum and Kolar
have reached plea bargains and will be sentenced after Waters' trial.

The ELF cell that allegedly included Waters, dubbed "The Family," went
on a rampage of arsons in the Northwest beginning in the 1990s that
targeted everything from sport utility vehicles to genetic engineering
labs.

As Waters' fate is decided, federal investigators search for clues in
another $7 million arson -- the torching of the Street of Dreams show
homes north of Woodinville before dawn Monday. ELF claimed
responsibility for the fires in a spray-painted banner left at the
scene.

P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072 or
paulshukovsky@seattlepi.com.


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Mac Leod Motto
Re: Jail Time? Lawyers turn up one AR against othe [Re: Mira Trapper] #618351
03/06/08 07:49 PM
03/06/08 07:49 PM
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Seattle Post Intelligencer
Waters guilty of two counts in UW eco-terror case
By VANESSA HO
P-I REPORTER
March 6, 2008
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/353989_ecoterror07.html?source=mypi

TACOMA -- A federal jury has found accused Earth Liberation Front
arsonist Briana Waters guilty of two charges stemming from the
firebombing of a University of Washington research center.

The charges carry a mandatory minimum of five years in prison. Waters,
a 32-year-old violin teacher from Oakland, Calif., faces a maximum
term of 20 years.

The jury deadlocked on more serious charges, including conspiracy, and
possession and use of a destructive device. The latter charge carries
a minimum 30-year sentence.

U.S. District Judge Franklin Burgess temporarily ordered Waters into
custody while he considers whether she should be released pending
sentencing on May 30.

"The FBI, ATF and local law enforcement officers tenaciously followed
every lead to solve this destructive string of arsons," U.S. Attorney
Jeff Sullivan said in a statement.

"This cell of eco- terrorists thought they had a 'right' to sit in
judgment and destroy the hard work of dedicated researchers at the UW
and elsewhere," Sullivan said. "Today's verdict shows that no one is
above the law."

"We're thrilled at the verdict," said First Assistant U.S. Attorney
Mark Bartlett. "It holds her accountable for what really is the core
of her offense, and it sends a message that every individual involved
in this conspiracy will be held accountable and be sent to jail."

He said prosecutors would decide within the week on whether to retry
Waters on the counts the jury deadlocked on.

Waters' attorney, Robert Bloom, called the verdict a "tragedy."

"An innocent person has been convicted of a crime she didn't commit," he said.

He said there are many issues for an appeal, including the possibility
that the jury had been influenced by this week's arsons that destroyed
the Street of Dreams luxury homes near Echo Lake. Bloom's request for
a mistrial based on news of those fires -- linked to the ELF -- was
denied.

The verdict crushed Waters' supporters, including friends from
Olympia, her mother from Pennsylvania, and her partner, with whom she
has a 3-year-old daughter.

"She hasn't stopped crying," Bloom said of his client.

Waters was convicted of arson of a building receiving federal funds
and arson of a building used in interstate commerce -- "two prongs" of
the same act, according to U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman Emily
Langlie. The penalties for each run concurrently.

Waters had flatly denied any involvement in the May 2001 arson that
destroyed the Center for Urban Horticulture. The ELF claimed
responsibility for the blaze.

During the 3 1/2 -week trial, Waters was accused of acting as the
lookout while other radical environmentalists broke into the center
located near the University Village mall and planted an incendiary
device.

The blaze destroyed the building, irreplaceable botanical and
ecological research materials, and killed specimens of rare and
endangered plants. The UW spent $7 million to replace the building. No
injuries were reported.

Waters testified during the trial that she had nothing to do with the
arson, but two admitted ELF firebombers -- Lacey Phillabaum and
Jennifer Kolar -- implicated her in their testimony.

Waters maintained that the government's star witnesses harbored biases
against her and couldn't be believed. Bloom said they have a motive to
lie -- sharply reduced prison time.

But testimony at trial revealed that Justin Solondz, 28, then a
student at Evergreen and Waters' boyfriend, built the destructive
devices used in the fire in a "clean room" in the garage of Waters'
rented Olympia home.

Prosecutors said Waters arranged for her cousin's wife, an Olympia
resident, to rent a car. Waters told the cousin she would use the car
to move some of her belongings out of her cousin's home to her own
residence.

Instead, authorities say she borrowed the car shortly before the fire,
claiming she was ill and needed to go to the hospital. Waters and
Solondz joined William Rodgers and Phillabaum for the drive to
Seattle.

They met up with Kolar at the Green Lake Bar and Grill, and before
dawn traveled to the UW center to set the timed gasoline bombs.

Solondz is a fugitive. Rodgers committed suicide after his arrest, and
Kolar and Phillabaum are awaiting sentencing.

P-I reporters Jennifer Langston contributed to this report. P-I
reporter Vanessa Ho can be reached at 206-448-8003 or
vanessaho@seattlepi.com.


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Mac Leod Motto
Re: Jail Time? Lawyers turn up one AR against othe [Re: Mira Trapper] #618354
03/06/08 07:50 PM
03/06/08 07:50 PM
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Portland Indymedia
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/03/373096.shtml

Civil Rights Outreach Committee

For immediate Release: March 6, 2008
Contacts: Kassey Baker, 360-561-5261
Lauren Regan, Atty, Civil Liberties Defense Center, 541-687-9180

Tacoma Jury Convicts Woman of Arson; Hangs on Other Counts

Tacoma, WA - A federal jury was unable to reach a decision on
conspiracy and transportation of a destructive device but convicted
Briana Waters, a 32-year-old mother and violin teacher and former
resident of Olympia of arson. The government charged her with being a
lookout in connection with the May, 2001 arson of the Center for Urban
Horticulture at the University of Washington in Seattle. If convicted
on all counts, Waters would have faced a sentence of 35 years. The two
informants who testified against her in the case, who admitted to
participating in the arson, face between three and seven years. Ms.
Waters' sentencing is set for May 30.

Without any physical evidence linking Ms. Waters directly to the
arson, the government built its case on the testimony of the two
informants, and a number of pieces of circumstantial evidence. The
defense argued that the informants falsely accused Waters in order to
avoid 35-year prison sentences themselves, and that their testimony
was demonstrably false.

Among the pieces of circumstantial evidence introduced by the
government was a folder with a note on the cover from Waters to one of
the informants, Jennifer Kolar, containing various radical pamphlets
and publications. Prosecutors highlighted the most sensationalist
passages in the articles, and sought to ascribe these views to Ms.
Waters. Waters testified that she did not write the materials, did not
agree with them, and did not pass them to Kolar. The defense argued
that the informant must have substituted other articles for the ones
that Waters actually put in the folder. While Waters' fingerprints
were on the folder, they were not on any of the articles. The
government countered that Waters' boyfriend's fingerprints were on the
articles, and that he is a "fugitive" suspected of one or more arsons.
The defense pointed out that the boyfriend is not on trial.

"The government's case was primarily based on character assassination
and guilt by association," said civil rights attorney Ben Rosenfeld, a
member of the Board of Directors of the Civil Liberties Defense
Center. "Evidence of other people's writings never should never have
been allowed to be used against her."

Briana Waters has maintained her innocence to all the charges. An
appeal is likely.

This trial is another chapter in the federal government's "Operation
Backfire," also dubbed the "Green Scare," in which the government has
hounded the environmental activist community, overcharged a number of
individuals with a federal firearms enhancement applying to bombs and
missiles, and branded them as terrorists, even though none of the
events resulted in a single injury.

Central to the jury's consideration of two of the charges against Ms.
Waters was the question whether she was responsible for helping to
build or transport explosive devices. The jury deadlocked on these
charges. During the first stages of the investigation of the "Street
of Dreams" fires in a housing development in Snohomish County, WA,
officials falsely reported that explosive devices were found. Later,
BATF Spokesman Kelvin Crenshaw made that no such devices were found.
"It is inconceivable that officials could have made such a mistake. It
raises the question of deliberate jury tampering by the government,
and also calls into question the reliability of the government's
information in general," said Rosenfeld.

Briana Waters has steadfastly maintained her innocence.
Copies of a press packet with current related articles and background
information are available from civilrightsoutreach@gmail.com. For
more information, go to http://www.cldc.org. ###


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Mac Leod Motto
Re: Jail Time? Lawyers turn up one AR against othe [Re: Mira Trapper] #625243
03/10/08 06:03 PM
03/10/08 06:03 PM
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Mira Trapper Offline OP
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Rocky Mountain News
YACHT RACER TO ARSONIST
ELF member, turned U.S. witness, describes her double life as
high-tech worker and key figure
By Allyn Harvey
Saturday, March 8, 2008
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/mar/08/yacht-racer-to-arsonist/

A former University of Colorado student who left academia for the
clandestine world of environmental extremism was a key witness against
an activist with the Earth Liberation Front in a trial that ended
Thursday.

Jennifer Kolar, 34, who now lives in Seattle, described to jurors a
double life of yacht racing and environmental terrorism with the same
shadowy, loose-knit group that torched buildings at the Vail Mountain
Ski Resort in 1998.

Kolar testified against Briana Waters, telling jurors that her former
friend helped her and three others set a massive fire at the
University of Washington.

Kolar also admitted to trying in 1998 to burn down the Wray Gun Club
in Wray, one of four arsons she confessed to in her deal with
prosecutors. Her testimony against Waters was part of her deal.

Waters was on trial for conspiracy, arson and other charges in this
blue collar, industrial center about 35 miles south of Seattle. The
jury found Waters guilty Thursday, on two counts of arson after a week
of deliberation.

This sleepy backdrop for the Waters trial, on a crime that has faded
from the memory of many in the Northwest, was thrust into public view
Monday when three luxury homes in a posh suburb north of Seattle were
destroyed by arsonists who left a banner behind attributing the blaze
to ELF. Investigators cautioned against concluding the group was
behind the fire despite the banner, which has been sent to an FBI
laboratory for analysis.

The Earth Liberation Front is a underground group of environmental
extremists who burned down the Two Elks Lodge and other facilities
high on the slopes of the Vail ski area in October 1998. Although
Kolar lived in Colorado at the time of the fire, she was not involved,
according to court documents.

Kolar and Waters are among 19 people charged in connection with a
series of ELF arsons in the West between 1996 and 2001, according to a
Department of Justice spokeswoman. One committed suicide. Thirteen
pleaded guilty after reaching sentencing deals with the government.
Four are believed to have fled the country. Waters is the only one to
go to trial.

Prosecutors maintained Waters, a 32-year-old violin teacher and mother
who lives in Berkeley, Calif., joined with Kolar and three others
early on May 21, 2001, to set fire to the Center for Urban
Horticulture. The fire caused $7 million in damages and destroyed
offices, labs and archives.

Kolar testified that she and three others sneaked across an open field
to the targeted facility, used glass cutters to enter through a window
and set time-delayed incendiary devices in the office of Toby
Bradshaw, a professor of biology they believed to be engaged in
genetic engineering of poplar trees. Waters served as the lookout,
Kolar said.

The verdict means Waters will serve five to 20 years in prison. Jurors
were deadlocked on other charges, including one that would have sent
her to jail for a minimum of 30 years.

Kolar, who is accused of a much more active role with the Earth
Liberation Front, faces seven years in prison because of her
cooperation with the investigation.

"I just decided to go in and tell the truth, and try and put all this
behind me," she told jurors.

Fall from grace

Like many other ELF activists, Kolar described a path from academic
promise to criminal infamy. She earned a bachelor's degree in applied
mathematics from CU in 1995, a master's in astrophysics in 1997, then
spent two years working toward a Ph.D. in oceanography, according to
university records.

Kolar testified that she got her start in activism as an undergraduate
working with the Colorado Public Interest Research Group, volunteering
with Rocky Mountain Animal Defense and teaching at a student
environmental center on the CU campus.

In the winter of 1996-97, she told jurors, she met activist Jonathan
Paul at an animal rights conference in Minnesota.

Paul, sentenced last summer to 51 months in prison for his part in the
arson that destroyed the Cavel West horse slaughterhouse in Redmond,
Ore., was active with the Animal Liberation Front and an ELF cell in
Eugene, Ore.

The two were soon in a romantic relationship, even though Paul lived
in Oregon, Kolar testified. In the summer of 1997, he asked if she was
interested in joining the movement. She said yes.

Kolar testified that she and Paul spent several days mixing an
inflammatory brew of vegetable glycerine soap, gasoline and diesel
fuel.

On July 21, the couple met three other ELF members - Joseph Dibee,
Jake Ferguson and Kevin Tubbs - in Eugene, Ore., and then traveled
south to a rendering plant owned by the Belgian company Cavel West.

According to court documents from Oregon, animal rights activists
considered Cavel West a particularly heinous facility that destroyed
wild horses rounded up and sold by the Bureau of Land Management.

Using the fuel mixture created by Kolar and Paul and delayed timing
devices built by Dibee, the group set the horses outside free and
burned the slaughterhouse to the ground.

End of friendships

Kolar said she flew home to resume her normal life, embarking on her
Ph.D. and working as a consultant for a scientific software company.
Paul cut her a check to cover travel expenses to and from the arson.

Kolar's next target was the Wray Gun Club in October 1998, chosen
because it was known for hosting contests to shoot prairie dogs.

"We at the RMAD had been unsuccessful trying to stop them, so we
decided to burn that gun club down," she testified. The attempt was
unsuccessful.

Kolar said she eventually abandoned her academic career and moved to
Seattle in 1999, to be closer to her father, she said, and her
boyfriend and fellow ELF activist Joe Dibee.

She continued her double life, working in lucrative high-tech jobs in
Seattle during the dotcom boom. She lived in a chic North Seattle
neighborhood with a boyfriend from outside the movement, and spent
weekends racing sailboats at the Corinthian Yacht Club.

According to evidence presented at the Waters trial, Kolar twice in
2001 helped execute successful arsons and then resumed her normal
life, racing her sailboat just a few days after the fire at the Center
for Urban Horticulture, and starting a vacation in Hawaii a day after
burning down a BLM horse corral in Northern California.

The FBI credits Kolar with taking ELF's communication methods to an
extremely advanced level. Combined with the group's meticulous use of
secretive communication protocols, Kolar's teaching on encryption
software and the use of remote servers known as "anonymizers" made
detection by law enforcement virtually impossible.

"This extraordinary 'wall of silence' is what kept their identity from
being discovered by law enforcement for such a long time," explains a
sentencing memorandum prepared by the U.S. Attorney's Office in
Oregon.

Asked how she now felt about her new role as a government informant,
Kolar admitted it was difficult.

"A lot of the people are people who were my friends," she said.
"Briana was my friend."



Guess the Lawyers know how to sort out true friendships better then fellow ELF hypocrites do. Ten minutes with a layer telling a future long time jail baiter that turning on a former friend is the best choice usually plays out like this case.


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Mac Leod Motto
Re: Jail Time? Lawyers turn up one AR against othe [Re: Mira Trapper] #629650
03/13/08 02:31 PM
03/13/08 02:31 PM
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Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia
Mira Trapper Offline OP
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Looks like Waters is going to face a California trial to. Once those ALF/ELF warblers start to sing, it is real hard to stop them from telling everyone what their compatriots were involved in.


Seattle Times Judge orders UW arsonist to remain in jail until May 30 sentencing By Mike Carter Seattle Times staff reporter March 12,2008


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004277798_webuwfire12m.html

A magistrate judge this afternoon ordered convicted arsonist Briana Waters to continue to be held in jail pending her May 30 sentencing after federal prosecutors claimed she had been involved in another Earth Liberation Front arson at a horse ranch in California.


The U.S. Attorney's Office filed court documents that alleged Waters participated in that fire in hopes of ensuring a lengthy prison sentence for her conviction on two counts of arson stemming from a May2001 fire at the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture.

Waters was convicted by a federal jury in Tacoma last week following four days of deliberations. The jury deadlocked on the most serious charges, involving the use of an explosive device, that could have landed her in prison for a minimum of 30 years.

Waters, 32, a violin teacher who now lives in Oakland, Calif. with her3-year-old daughter, faces at least five years in prison for the arson convictions, although a judge could order her held for up to 20 years.


Waters' attorneys asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Kelly Arnold to release Waters pending her May 30 sentencing, saying she fits an exception to a requirement that felons convicted of violent crimes be detained.

Waters, they said in lengthy court briefs, poses no flight risk and that separating her from her daughter is a hardship she should not have to endure, particularly given the jury's inability to reach unanimous verdicts on the most serious charges facing her.


"Despite facing a 35-year mandatory minimum sentence, Ms. Waters appeared on time at every court date," wrote defense attorneys Robert Bloom and Neil Fox.

They pointed out that two other defendants in the UW fire case who pleaded guilty to arson-related crimes — Lacey Phillabaum and Jennifer Kolar — both were released after their pleas. Both cooperated with the government and testified against Waters. Other defendants in similar ELF cases who cooperated also avoided pre-sentencing detention, they say.


"Briana Waters is the only defendant in any of these cases as to whom the government has made a motion for a 'post-guilty finding' detention order," the lawyers argued.


Prosecutors have said they will ask for a "significantly longer" term than that five-year minimum for Waters and say now for the first time in court documents filed this week that they will show that Waters was involved in another arson at the Litchfield Wild Horse and Burro Ranchin Susanville, Calif., just three weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001,terrorist attacks.

Prosecutors said the alleged architect of that fire — Stanislas Meyerhoff "would testify that Waters participated in the arson,"according to court documents. Meyerhoff, whose 13-year prison sentence is the longest being served by any member of the Earth Liberation Front, is the fiancι of Phillabaum, whose testimony was key in Waters' conviction, according to trial testimony.

Defense attorneys have challenged Meyerhoff's credibility, arguing that he failed to identify Waters during an FBI debriefing. But prosecutors say "Mayerhoff has described someone who matches Water's description as participating in the arson and subsequently has identified another picture of Waters," the documents say.


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Mac Leod Motto
Re: Jail Time? Lawyers turn up one AR against othe [Re: Mira Trapper] #629670
03/13/08 02:48 PM
03/13/08 02:48 PM
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lennitrapper Offline
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wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to much to read..but from the title...good job stupid AR people


red fox trapper wannabe.

Pro-sqeazin Pro Staff Member
"What was your bait?? Cobra?" white 17
Re: Jail Time? Lawyers turn up one AR against othe [Re: lennitrapper] #629680
03/13/08 02:56 PM
03/13/08 02:56 PM
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Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia
Mira Trapper Offline OP
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Take the time to read about such cases. Gives a real insight into how the ELF/ALF hypocrites turn on each other like ravenous wolves when their own buttocks are on the measuring block for cell c, with new room-mate Bubba or Booba as their new partner, for 5 to 20 years.


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Mac Leod Motto
Re: Jail Time? Lawyers turn up one AR against othe [Re: Mira Trapper] #629718
03/13/08 03:29 PM
03/13/08 03:29 PM
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lrjakes Offline
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Mira, you have any factual info on the SHAC7 cases?

I have been trying to look but just finding articles written in support of the thugs.

Their side is that of course they did nothing wrong. Just trying to hide behind their right to "free speech". Whats the real story?

Re: Jail Time? Lawyers turn up one AR against othe [Re: lrjakes] #629738
03/13/08 03:49 PM
03/13/08 03:49 PM
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Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia
Mira Trapper Offline OP
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They are guilty as charged but the courts will be taking a lot of time to bring the case against them to long time jail sentencing. SHAQ involves international law and national legal as well as US state and UK Provincial laws being broken.


This link to Animal Rights Net Archives is filled with the info you seek.



http://www.animalrights.net/search.html?limit=10&body=SHAC


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Mac Leod Motto
Re: Jail Time? Lawyers turn up one AR against othe [Re: Mira Trapper] #630653
03/13/08 11:35 PM
03/13/08 11:35 PM
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lrjakes Offline
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thanks Mira!

some are already out. Shame.

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