McDavid Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison as a “Terrorist”
May 9th, 2008 by Will Potter
Eric McDavid was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison on Thursday, as a “terrorist,” for conspiring to sabotage federal facilities in the name of the environment.
Nearly 20 years.
That number is shocking enough, considering that the average sentence for violent offenders, in 2004, was about 7.6 years.
That number is shocking enough, considering that Jeff “Free” Luers was sentenced to 22 years and 8 months for sabotaging SUVs (not “conspiring” to do so, like McDavid, but actually doing it)—a sentence that made international headlines and was finally reduced.
And that number is shocking enough, considering that his codefendants will likely receive only five years in prison in exchange for becoming government informants.
But it is even more surprising in light of the disturbing chain of events that led to McDavid’s conviction, including an FBI operative who provided the group with bomb-making recipes; at times financed their transportation, food and housing; strung along McDavid, who had the hopes of a romantic relationship; and poked and prodded the group into action.
Mark Reichel, McDavid’s attorney, said:
“There has never been a case in America that has involved this much entrapment, this much pushing by an informant, by the U.S. government and by the FBI behind it.”
But, as Judge England said in justification of applying the “terrorism enhancement”:
“It’s a new world since Sept. 11, 2001.”
It is indeed a new world. One where fears of “terrorism” are used to justify sweeping police powers, government spying and entrapment. Perhaps most damaging of all is that the press has largely swallowed the “War on Terrorism” rhetoric, labeling activists as “eco-terrorists” at every turn, often long before they even have a foot in the courtroom.
The U.S. Attorney’s office wasted no time in patting themselves on the back for landing such a hefty sentence for a “terrorist,” issuing a press release headlined, “ECO-TERRORIST GIVEN NEARLY TWENTY YEARS IN PRISON.” The release, of course, doesn’t mention anything about “Anna,” the FBI operative. Instead, it only references a “confidential source,” in passing.
United States Attorney Scott said:
“Today’s severe punishment of nearly 20 years in federal prison should serve as a cautionary tale to those who would conspire to commit life-threatening acts in the name of their extremist views.”
A former juror in the case tells of a much different “cautionary tale.” One of the dangers of unchecked police powers and kangaroo courts.
In a rare declaration to the court, made even more rare by its candor and unrestrained outrage, Diane Bennett described how she and other jurors were mislead.
During deliberations, we asked the court to please clarify for the jury the issue of whether Anna was a government agent, and if so, when did she become one… The written answer was from the court and stated “no” that she was not a government agent, yet we were told orally that she was. With the written response of “no,” and after reading the other written responses from the court, we ended our consideration of the issue of entrapment, the vote was 7-5 to consider the entrapment issue as a defense. Once the written response advised Anna was not a government agent, we then changed to a guilty verdict soon thereafter.
In other words, in case this is all getting confusing, prosecutors needed to show that McDavid conspired with at least one other person to destroy these government facilities. His codefendants, Jenson and Weiner, testified that there was no conspiracy among the three of them to carry out the illegal actions. That left just McDavid and “Anna,” a paid FBI operative. Yet jurors were led to believe that “Anna” wasn’t a government agent, and so they convicted him.
Bennett goes on to call the FBI an “embarrassment”:
…specifically by allowing this case to develop the way it did using Anna and providing all of the essential tools for the group; the cabin, the money, the idea, the books, everything, and by letting Anna “string Eric along” when she should have terminated the relationship clearly with him.
Then again, as Judge England said, “It’s a new world since Sept. 11, 2001.”
it is a new world we are living in since sept. 11th. one where the government can call anyone a terrorist under the name of homeland security and then use that label to do what ever they want with them. that label “terrorist” is used far to lightly and applied to people whose ideologies are based in compassion. it is simply appalling.
[…] this much pushing by an informant, by the U.S. government and by the FBI behind it.” More on Green is the New Red and the Sacramento […]
this is so sad.
when will these scare tactics end? when will the government start addressing the real issues…the environmental problems, the spying, animal cruelty, etc etc. it feels like were losing any sort of momentum in dealing with these cases.
We can only hope now that his appeals will be successful It’s shocking enough that he received this sentence. I’ll be even more shocked if he fails to win an appeal.
Nothing should shock us anymore I guess.
How does blowing up a tree farm and a fish hatchery help the environment? Eric Mcdavid is no victim here he knew full well what might happen if he were caught and what could happen if he succeeded.
He told Lauren Weiner “he no longer believed that non-violent protest was working; that he told the others what they were doing was a crime; that his preferred target was the Institute of Forest Genetics, the so-called ‘tree factory’; that he knew that people were living at that facility, and that he was indifferent to the possibility that someone might be accidentally killed as a result of that attack.” He deserves all the time he got.
His sentence is not the unusual for this type of case a few other examples are the following,
Antigovernment extremist Charles Ray Polk is indicted by a federal grand jury for plotting to blow up the Internal Revenue Service building in Austin, Tex. At the time of his arrest, Polk is trying to purchase plastic explosives. He will be sentenced the following year to almost 21 years in federal prison.
Tax protester Joseph Martin Bailie is arrested for trying to blow up the Internal Revenue Service building in Reno, Nev. He will be sentenced to 36 years
Seven members of the Mountaineer Militia are arrested in a plot to blow up the FBI’s national fingerprint records center in West Virginia. In 1998, leader Floyd “Ray” Looker, will be sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Three Ku Klux Klan members are arrested in a plot to blow up a natural gas refinery outside Fort Worth, Texas. The three, along with a fourth arrested later, planned to blow up the refinery, killing hundreds of people including children at a nearby school, as a diversion for a simultaneous armored car robbery. All four will plead guilty to conspiracy charges and be sentenced to terms of up to 20 years.
Joe:
What you’re trying to offer as evidence of McDavid’s recklessness and violent nature is PR material from the U.S. Attorney. Come on now.
The examples you cut and pasted from this website are different from this case for a few reasons, namely the intent to murder human beings (hundreds at a nearby school, in your last example) and also the lack of a government agent who financed, pushed and motivated the group into action.
I think it’s quite reactionary to respond to FBI tactics like this, which should scare everyone regardless of their politics, simply because you’re so against McDavid’s beliefs.
The ideal that ‘9/11 changes everthing’ fails to take into account that 9/11 was staged:
http://stj911.org/
http://stj911.org/evidence/foreknowledge.html
You have been warned.
The descent into fascism has begun.
I think what bothers me most about this case and why I am glad McDavid received such a long sentence, is my wife and I both work at a government facilities like one of McDavids targets. We and our colleagues all feel we are doing our best to protect the environment, but still ensure wise use of the resource.
We just upgraded security measures to try and protect staff and grounds from eco-terrorist. I work in the field most of the time, but I shudder to think what if some nutjob like McDavid were to set off a device while my wife was there.
I know that so far no act of eco-terrorism has resulted in a human death, but law of averages being what they are say that will change if violence like what McDavid planned continues.
Joe, I totally understand your concerns for your & your wife’s safety.
I am also opposed to violence, even arson that has little to no chance of harming anyone. I also think that if Eric was going to commit violence, that he should be ashamed.
But the person who would REALLY kill people in a case like this would do so without the government pushing, romancing, and financing them into it.
What did the FBI actually accomplish? Do you think Tim Mcvay would be dissuaded by Eric’s sentence of 20 years?
No - if anyone poses a threat to your wife, they are still out there and the government has wasted time and money and this person’s life because they were a soft target and the real violent criminals are too much of a challenge.
You and your wife are LESS safe due to operations such as this one.
Lazy cops are still lazy cops at any level.
It is clear that Joe is concerned on a very personal level- and that’s a key part of understanding how people relate to “terrorism” (the fear that I or someone I love will be harmed at random) to how people relate to environmental devastation (we’re all in this together, a calculated risk). I think that juries, judges, and the public cannot be expected to weigh the threat of something happening to them individually as on par with what is happening to all of us. One might think, as a species, it would be the opposite but, alas, we’re all self-obsessed at the expense of others.
It’s a wonder that Joe doesn’t feel terrorized by whatever his government is putting (or allowing to be put) into our air, our water…. has he seen the cancer stats lately? His wife is more likely to die from accumulated toxins, household chemicals, and radiation exposure than she is from direct action. This idea that she’s ever “safe” while at work is so narrow. What about global warming, Joe? What about the very real - and universal- threats of environmental destruction that McDavid and others feel so powerfully?
I am a very serious environmental activist, but if anybody started talking to me about blowing anything up, I would immediately assume that they were, 1. an FBI agent or 2. Out of their freaking minds. I think that McDavid was totally set up, but he also sounds incredibly naive.
How in the world the judge didn’t throw this case out is beyond me (maybe he was forced by the government to allow the case to go forward). Entrapment is defined by cases like this. It is disgusting that we live in a country that claims to be free and yet case after case shows we are not and we are losing what little freedom we have now. They did the same thing to the Civil Rights movement, to the American Indian movement, the Anti War movement… it is the same song and dance, big business uses the FBI to bully people trying to better our country and our world because they don’t want to “lose profits” but if they did the right thing they could make money and help the enviroment. Wake up people before it is to late!!!
Thought this is relevant and hopefully the same outcome happens! My heart goes out to Eric! Below are excerpts from wikipedia about the Camden 28:
“The Camden 28 were a group of “Catholic left” anti-Vietnam War activists who in 1971 planned and executed a raid on a Camden, New Jersey draft board. The raid resulted in a high-profile trial against the activists that was seen by many as a referendum on the Vietnam War.”
The trial
“By the time that The Camden 28 were brought to trial in the Spring of 1973, their case was viewed by many as a referendum on the Vietnam War. Each of the 28 faced seven felony charges stemming from the raid and more than 40 years in prison if convicted. The 28 chose to be tried together.
Immediately prior to the trial they were offered a plea-bargain whereby they would each plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge and the rest of the charges would be dropped. After intense discussion the 28 decided that they would not take the plea and that as political activists they preferred to be put on trial.
Unfortunately for the prosecution, its star witness Bob Hardy was feeling that he had been betrayed by the government. Hardy maintained that from the start of his interaction with the FBI he sought and received assurances that none of his co-conspirators in the raid would see any jail time. Now, as the trial loomed ahead, each of the “28″ was facing more than 40 years in prison.
For the FBI and the prosecution, the cost of betraying Hardy in this fashion was to lose him as a friendly witness. Scorned, Hardy would now, in fact, testify extensively for the defense. Hardy would testify regarding the extent to which the FBI encouraged and enabled the raid on the draft board to take place. Through Hardy’s testimony, the raid came across as being funded and driven by the FBI, and the defense was able to argue effectively that through the FBI, the government “over-reached” in its zeal to arrest and prosecute this particular set of anti-war activists.
On May 20, 1973, the jury returned “not guilty” verdicts for all counts against all 28 defendants, acquitting them.”
[…] McDavid was just sentenced to 20 years in prison, as a “terrorist,” in a case that would never have been possible without a “confidential source” known only as […]