Daniel McGowan sentenced

Bombs and Shields

Always keep your shield between you and your bomb
Monday, June 04, 2007

Daniel McGowan

Eugene, Oregon, U.S. - Daniel McGowan of New York City, was sentenced to seven years in prison today and designated a terrorist for his role in two acts of environmentally motivated property destruction in 2001. He was the ninth of ten defendants to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken in the past two weeks. McGowan was one of only four defendants to refuse to name names and implicate others who took part in similar actions. Another non-cooperating co-defendant Jonathan Paul will face sentencing tomorrow.

Judge Aiken decided to give McGowan a terrorism enhancement for his role in the Jefferson Poplar tree farm arson because in her opinion the communique released anonymously by the Earth Liberation Front following the fire threatened the government. According to the prosecution the communique that was released to the media was significantly altered by the former North American Earth Liberation Front Press Officer Craig Rosebraugh. The defense argued that because of this McGowan should not be held responsible for the material contained in it and should not be labeled a terrorist.

posted by bombs and shields at 6:34 PM | Comments
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Eugene, Oregon, U.S. - Convicted eco-saboteurs Nathan Block and Joyanna Zacher were sentenced to a staggering seven-years, eight-months in prison Friday. Judge Ann Aiken was dismayed that neither of the defendants expressed remorse for their crimes and sentenced them each to them to the full term requested by the prosecution, saying that they wanted to be known as "activist martyrs." Their sentencing was the last in a week that saw three other former environmental activists sent to prison for arsons that were claimed by the Earth or Animal Liberation Front between 1996 and 2001.


Government informants Darren Thurston, Kendall Tankersly and Suzanne Savoie

Darren Thurston, Kendall Tankersly and Suzanne Savoie each chose to become government witness immediately or soon after their arrests and pledged to cooperate fully including offering to testify against other defendants in the case. The three were rewarded for their cooperation and were handed down sentences that were significantly shorter than Block and Zacher's.

In light of his having provided information about a "whole array of activities and other people," beyond what was called for in this investigation Thurston was given a sentence of three years and one month which was the most lenient of one given to any defendants in the case. Taking into account that he has already spent a year and a half in prison and that he will likely be given credit for good time he serves Thurston may be released as soon as a year from now.

Tankersly and Savoie who have spent the past year out on bail were sentenced to three-years, ten-months and four-years three-months. Like Zacher and Block the two women pled guilty to only two acts of arson but had their sentences reduced in appreciation of their cooperation. Of the eight defendants in the case who have been sentenced Thurston is the only one to escape being designated a terrorist. Non-cooperating defendants Daniel McGowan and Jonathan Paul face sentencing on Monday and Tuesday.

posted by bombs and shields at 12:45 PM | Comments
Friday, May 25, 2007

Chelsea Gerlach and Kevin Tubbs

Eugene, Oregon, U.S. - Two more convicted Earth and Animal Liberation Front saboteurs and cooperating witnesses Kevin Tubbs and Chelsea Gerlach were sentenced to prison in separate hearings yesterday and today. Tubbs was handed a 12 year 7 month sentence and Gerlach was sentenced to 9 years in prison. Both were given terrorism enhancements and given a minor sentence reduction for cooperating with authorities to help convict others involved in the conspiracy.

posted by bombs and shields at 7:40 PM | Comments (4)
Thursday, May 24, 2007

Stanislas Meyerhoff

Eugene, Oregon, U.S. - The first of ten convicted eco-saboteurs was sentenced yesterday to 13 years in prison with a terrorism enhancement. Stanislas Meyerhoff was a key witness in the government's case and the first of his co-defendants to begin cooperating and assist in the arrests and prosecution of others involved with the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front primarily in the Pacific Northwest between 1996 and 2001. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken told him that "for a very long time you've been an evil boy," but commended him by “doing the right thing” by confessing and assisting the government in their prosecution of others.

Much of the two day sentencing was taken up by discussion about how Meyerhoff's reputation of a snitch greatly increases his chances of being both physically and sexually assaulted in prison and that he has allegedly already been the target of other inmates who have attacked him and threatened him on a daily basis.

Meyhoff's status as a terrorist is also likely to make his time in prison much more difficult. Judge Aiken applied the terrorism enhancement for the arsons at Romania Chevrolet, Jefferson Poplar Farm, and the Eugene police substation. Nearly all of the other defendants were involved in at least one of those actions making it nearly certain that they will also be deemed terrorists. While receiving a terrorism enhancement could add as many as 20 years to a defendants sentence the judge is not likely to add more time than was agreed to in plea agreements.

The non-cooperating defendants Daniel McGowan, Joyanna Zacher, Nathan Block, and Jonathan Paul are due to be sentenced in the coming weeks and face at most eight years in prison each. Paul who was only convicted of one arson at a horse slaughter house in 1997 faces a maximum of five years behind bars.

Labeling activists who employ arson as an extreme form of civil-disobedience is an unprecedented move on behalf of the government which redefines what it takes to be a terrorist and makes it much easier for the Bush administration to claim that they have been effective in capturing and convicting terrorists.

posted by bombs and shields at 3:46 PM | Comments (5)
Sunday, May 20, 2007

Greensburg, Kansas, U.S. - Volunteer emergency relief workers affiliated with the anarchist Kansas Mutual Aid (KMA) group have been told by law enforcement authorities that they are not welcome in the town of Greensburg, which was leveled by a Tornado on May 6th. The KMA relief workers were coordinating their efforts with the AmeriCorps and a local Mennonite church and had just received permission to set up a base of operations on private land when they were approached by police officers from a number of different agencies including the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Olathe Police Department, Dickinson County Sheriff's Department and the Lawrence Police Department.

Officers informed the volunteers that they knew who they were and what they were up to and ordered the group to leave town and not return. Police said that the group had been deemed a "security threat" and threatened that if any members of KMA were to return they may be "disappeared."

posted by bombs and shields at 12:50 PM | Comment (1)
Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Cavel West horsemeat packing plant in Redmond on July 21, 1997

Eugene, Oregon, U.S. - Federal Judge Ann Aiken has decided not to rule on whether or not ten convicted eco-saboteurs,who are responsible for a seven year campaign of arson in the name of the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front, can be defined as terrorists. She will likely offer separate decisions for each of the defendants during their sentencing dates, the first of which is next week.

Today's court appearance was expected to conclude with a resolution on Terrorism enhancement issue. If the crimes were deemed to be acts of terrorism as the prosecution claims they were then the judge has the option of sentencing each defendant to as much as an additional 20 years in prison. Aiken is not expected to add any time to their sentences. If she does decide to stick any of the ten with a terrorism classification it will undoubtedly ensure that they are incarcerated in a more restrictive and violent institution than they would be otherwise.

The label would also likely follow them outside of prison and could affect their ability to do normal things such as take out a loan, rent an apartment of fly in an airplane. She will likely offer separate decisions on the matter during each defendants sentencing dates, the first of which is next week. Some say that the government's desire to impose the terrorism label is a purely political move that has more to do with their failure to capture many actual terrorists that have threatened more than property than what the defendants are accused of. This is the first case in which the prosecutors have sought such an enhancement out of 1,200 arsons that have been claimed by Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front nationwide.

Federal prosecutors also compared the defendants to the Ku Klux Klan who also burned down buildings. Amanda Lee an attorney representing Daniel McGowan objected to that characterization and noted that the difference was that on at least one occasion the KKK burned down a church while people were inside it, killing four young girls and that arson was just one part of the Klan's campaign of terror which also included murder and lynchings.

posted by bombs and shields at 7:51 PM | Comments (3)