Grad Student Indicted on Terrorism Charges
Dec 11th, 2009 by Will Potter
As a follow up to David Pellow’s guest post, “My Student is a Sociologist, Not a Terrorist,” here is an update from his grad student facing terrorism charges, Scott DeMuth.
DeMuth has been indicted for conspiracy to commit “animal enterprise terrorism” in relation to the unsolved Animal Liberation Front raid at the University of Iowa. The government has argued that DeMuth is an anarchist, and “therefore, he is a domestic terrorist.”
This is an excerpt from a public statement by DeMuth:
…I believe I was targeted by this grand jury because of my involvement in doing prisoner support as a part of EWOK! (Earth Warriors are OK!). Further, as a part of my academic career, I have been involved in researching the animal rights and environmental movements and interviewing participants of those movements. The identity and contents of interviews are protected by confidentiality agreements, and I have an obligation to this confidentiality as outlined by the Institutional Review Board and American Sociological Association guidelines.
Because of the grand jury’s use in investigating social movements, I refused to cooperate and testify in the proceedings. Additionally, because grand jury proceedings are held in secret, there is no real way to verify if I had only given my name or if I had given away the identity and contents of each interview I have done. Therefore, if for no other reason, I believed that my participation would violate the trust and confidentiality of those who I have interviewed. I went to Davenport on November 17th, knowing that I could be jailed for contempt of court, and I was willing to deal with whatever legal consequences came with that decision.
As expected, I was jailed for contempt of court. However, two days later, I was unexpectedly charged with “conspiracy with unknown persons” under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA). As evidenced by the vagueness of the charge and its filing a day before the statute of limitations expired, I believe that this charge is being used punitively against me because of my non-cooperation with the grand jury. Additionally, it seems that this charge is a last-ditch effort by the prosecution eager to get a conviction in a failed investigation…
Under the AETA (and its predecessor the AEPA), the ever-expanding definition of terrorism has included everything from the ALF to PETA, even going as far as charging people who chalk on sidewalks as “terrorists.” Regardless of the many laws that exist to charge illegal activities, laws such as the AETA are written specifically to charge political ideologies and those who support them.
But this expanding definition of terrorism does not just affect animal rights activists, to which my case should attest. The government makes broad and dangerous generalizations across the board, conflating ideologies from all sides of the political spectrum with terrorism (e.g. anti-abortion activists, gun-rights advocates, environmentalists, and anarchists). Not only does the government target political activity, but it also uses the guise of the “war on terror” to target entire communities based on religion, ethnicity, national origin, and immigrant status. We must ask ourselves, “Who will be next?”
It is not just animal rights activists and anarchists who have a stake in this case, in the abolition of the AETA, and in the overall “terrorizing” of political dissent, but everyone who lives within America, everyone who values our inalienable rights and liberties, and everyone who seeks a better way of living than the one we have been given.
Thanks for blogging about this, Will. BTW, what IS the statute of limitations for so-called “animal enterprise terrorism” crimes?
I went to school to learn to be a sociologist and while I was in school I was discussing a hypothetical much like this case with a fellow student. As sociologists we were possibly privy to things that under these draconian laws such as the AETA and USA PATRIOT Act would no doubt make us targets. Sad that he has been made a scapegoat because the government failed in an investigation but still needs someone to hang to show how well the “War on Terror” is going.
I majored in sociology, too, and it taught me how the world works. I’m partial to conflict theory and can see clearly how the government is working on behalf of powerful corporations to protect the profits of wealthy capitalists. I thank Scott DeMuth for standing his ground rather breaking under state repression. Keep it up!
i think he is innocent. would a crossbow hunter really care about animals suffering in a lab?
[...] Scott Demuth’ statement on facing terrorism charges [graduate student charged as terrorist for... [...]
Exactly. Look at Monsanto. Big corporations are working way too closely with big government. That's the problem with capitalism: its foundation is based on profit and greed, instant gratification and impulses. There's no morality in it; there's no sense of integrity or spirituality in it. They get away with what they can get away with. When I saw a video about the Indian farmers who were committing suicide with Roundup, I realize that this contagium is worse than just infiltrating the United States: now it's a new world order.
[...] background: In Minnesota, a graduate student named Scott DeMuth has been indicted on conspiracy charges under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. The charges are related to a 2004 raid by the Animal [...]
[...] background: In Minnesota, a graduate student named Scott DeMuth has been indicted on conspiracy charges under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. The charges are related to a 2004 raid by the Animal [...]
[...] background: In Minnesota, a graduate student named Scott DeMuth has been indicted on conspiracy charges under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. The charges are related to a 2004 raid by the Animal [...]
[...] background: In Minnesota, a graduate student named Scott DeMuth has been indicted on conspiracy charges under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. The charges are related to a 2004 raid by the Animal [...]
[...] is reason to celebrate, but not relax. Scott DeMuth is being charged under the Animal Enterprise Terrorist Act (AETA)—he was brought in by the FBI the very day the [...]
[...] (RICO) Act and other laws have been used to quell animal rights litigation; and the case of Scott DeMuth, a University of Minnesota graduate student currently facing conspiracy charges under the AETA for [...]