Suspect found guilty for her part in UW arson

Last Thursday, Briana Waters, the 32-year-old Olympia, Wash., woman accused of setting fire to the UW Horticulture Center, was found guilty by a jury in the U.S. District Court in Tacoma.

Waters was convicted on two counts of arson for her part in the May 21, 2001, fire that caused $1.5 million worth of damage and cost the UW $7 million in rebuilding.

Waters could face five years in prison for each count of arson.

The horticulture building was targeted by an eco-terrorist group known as the Earth Liberation Front, or ELF, the same organization that took credit for the destruction of three multimillion-dollar homes on the Street of Dreams in Woodinville, Wash., March 3.

In addition to two counts of arson, Waters also faces three other charges, one for conspiracy and two for possession of a homemade time-delayed gasoline bomb. The latter could carry a mandatory sentence of at least 35 years in prison, the minimum sentence for using the device in a crime of violence.

“We were very grateful to the law enforcement that found the people responsible for perpetrating this arson, and we are pleased with the justice system for doing its work,” said Norm Arkans, the UW executive director of media relations.

According to the testimony of the other defendants in the case, the UW research building was targeted because ELF members mistakenly believed UW Professor Toby Bradshaw was trying to genetically splice poplar trees.

Professor Bradshaw has declined to comment to the press regarding Waters’ trial.

Waters had testified that she was in no way involved with the arson. Two other defendants in the case, however, have testified that Waters helped rent the car, drove the explosive device to the site and acted as a lookout.

The arson was one of 17 different attacks by ELF and its sister organization, the Animal Liberation Front, that occurred between 1996 and 2001. Most of these attacks were on housing developments, logging facilities, ski resorts and animal testing labs. Collectively, these attacks caused $20 million in damages over the seven-year period that began in 1996.

The jury also ruled to detain Waters until her sentencing, which will be handed down on May 17. An appeal on the decision yesterday did not pass.

The decision came after three weeks of deliberation by the jury in a trial that has been marred by several controversies, including protests by activist groups believing the required minimum sentence is too harsh, particularly because Waters would be separated from her 3-year-old daughter.

“It was clearly emotional,” an anonymous juror said to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about Waters’ testimony. “At the time [of the crime] she didn’t have a daughter; now, she does.”

Other controversies have included debate over the designation of ELF by the federal government as a “terrorist organization,” the relocation of Waters’ trial from Seattle to Tacoma, Wash., and the impact the March 3 attack in Woodinville may have had on the jury’s objectivity.

Following the Woodinville fires, Waters’ defense team made an unsuccessful motion for a mistrial, claiming news coverage of the attack prejudiced the jury.

“For people who wanted to see a fair outcome for Briana, the timing could not have been worse for those fires that happened in Woodinville,” said Leon Janssen, an organizer for Olympia Civil Liberties Resource, a group that has been active in opposing Waters’ arrest and trial. “Any chance she had went out the window when the jury saw those houses burn down. At least some of the jurors must have seen the news — it was everywhere. It’s one of the most prejudicial things for the jury that could have happened on Monday morning. Those fires were handed to the prosecution on a silver platter.”

Janssen, who believes Waters is innocent, said this attack furthered people’s fears about “eco-terrorism,” a term he objects to.

“The FBI has labeled Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front the No. 1 domestic terrorist threat,” he said. “I don’t want to minimize the crimes these groups have committed, because there were hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, but it seems a little far-fetched. It’s part of feeding this climate of fear.”

Regardless of the impact the news may have had, the jury remained deadlocked on Waters’ sentencing.

On March 5, the jury reported to U.S. District Judge Franklin Burgess that it was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on all five counts of the indictment. The prosecution urged Burgess to accept whatever verdict the jury had been able to determine, but the judge refused and dismissed the jury for the evening. The following morning, Burgess agreed to accept a partial ruling.

The jury found Waters guilty of the two counts of arson but stopped short of a decision on the charge that would land Waters in prison for the 35-year minimum.

Prosecutors will decide this week whether to re-try Waters on the three deadlocked counts.

Bill Rodgers, who was believed to be the group’s organizer, committed suicide in an Arizona jail after being taken into custody in 2005. Two of the other group members have already pleaded guilty and testified against Waters, and the fifth, Justin Solondz, is a fugitive.

[Reach reporter Siv Prince at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]