Briana Waters Found Guilty on Two Counts of Arson
Mar 6th, 2008 by Will Potter
Briana Waters has been found guilty of two counts of arson for the 2001 arson at the University of Washington, claimed by the Earth Liberation Front.
The jury hasn’t been able to reach a verdict on the other three counts. Among those, the most important, using a destructive device during a crime of violence. That charge carries a mandatory minimum of 30 years in prison.
After the verdict was read, 32 years old Waters touched foreheads with her boyfriend with her eyes closed in a prolonged embrace. Waters’ mother sobbed quietly in the courtroom.
Sentencing has already been set for May, but still in question is whether or not Waters will be taken into custody immediately. The U.S. Attorney wants that, but, of course, the defense is arguing against it.
The verdict comes on the heels of the high-profile arsons nearby, which the media has already labeled “eco-terrorism.”
Here’s what Olympia Civil Liberties had to say:
One thing that is certain to those close to the case is that the arson Monday has only damaged Briana’s chances of getting a fair verdict. The corporate media have consistently pointed out how curious the timing of the arson is, with the “UW Ecoterror Trial” still going on, further linking Briana with a shadowy ELF underground in the minds of the public. Anyone should have been able to predict the negative impact of an action like this on Briana’s trial, and that just makes this whole event even more frustrating.
There are many reasons to view this fire and it’s motivations as suspicious, and there is not yet any evidence that it was actually based on environmental motivations. The vast majority of arsons in this country are caused for run-of-the-mill reasons, and fraud or financial reasons are some of the biggest. The media seem all too happy to jump to conclusions about the people who started those fires based on the most preliminary investigations. Also there have often actions by agent provocateurs during political trials throughout history.
From The Seattle Times:
Burgess called jurors into the courtroom Monday morning to ask if 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.
Although Burgess ignored nearly all defense motions in this case, I think that Briana still fared better with him than the defendants previously convicted by Judge Ann Aiken. Briana was not forced to “confess” and “repent” under threat of a stiffer sentence. I think it is very clear that the serious criminals in this gang are cooperating with the FBI and the worst sentences are being meted out to those who had the least inclination toward violent action.
[...] extremist websites are suggesting that the recent ELF-attributed fire on the Street of Dreams development were part of a co…. Her lawyers tried to have the case thrown out after the news about the fire came out on Monday, [...]
Sentence her to the MAX! She is a criminal.
Love the website! Truly frightening stuff. Good to hear you speak at the NCOR show the other night. Take care.
Bob,
please do us all a favor and go “terrorise” another blog site will yah?
Why is it that haters have nothing better to do than submit their tasteless comments on sites that are not meant for them?
And you want to talk about criminals, how about George W. Bush? It is now almost certain that he committed egregrious war crimes and will get off the hook for it? And yet we’re made to suffer for it…
Fall in line with those sheep Bob, baaa-baaaa -