[Ppnews] On Darren Thurston - By Daniel McGowan
Political Prisoner News
ppnews at freedomarchives.org
Wed Dec 5 11:22:01 EST 2007
A Lack of Honesty and Integrity On Darren Thurston
By Daniel McGowan
<http://www.supportdaniel.org>www.supportdaniel.org
November 24th, 2007
I understand my cooperating co-defendant
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vZW4ud2lraXBlZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpL0RhcnJlbl9UaHVyc3Rvbg==>Darren
Thurston via his support person/ex girlfriend
Megan Adams
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vcmVkLWNlZGFyLmNhLw==>blog
is once again promising an essay that will
somehow justify his cooperation with the US
government and prosecutors in the
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vZW4ud2lraXBlZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpL09wZXJhdGlvbl9CYWNrZmlyZV8lMjhGQkklMjk=>Operation
Backfire cases.
I welcome this essay and have been anxiously
awaiting it for some timesince January 2007 when
freedarren.org (oddly enough, hosted by an
activist tech collective, resist.ca) reported
that Darren and/or his one support person would
address his cooperation with the
investigation(s). It would be more accurate to
say that I have been waiting to hear Darrens
explanations since March 2006when he abandoned
the Joint Litigation Agreement (JLA) he had with
my fellow non-cooperating defendant,
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vZ3JlZW5zY2FyZS5vcmcvY29udGFjdC5odG1sI2pvbmF0aGFu>Jonathan
Paul and me.
His support person and resist.ca have both
conceded that
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnJlc2lzdC5jYS9ub2RlLzEyOQ==>yes,
Darren did cooperate but that they are 100% ok with his cooperation because:
1) Darren was facing a large prison sentence-- he
was facing 35 years (compare this to almost all
of the other defendants who faced upwards of life in prison).
2) Well, he did cooperate but since everyone
cooperated, he had no choice. Yet 4 defendants
worked hard to get non-cooperation pleas which
Darren could have been part of, 4 are considered
fugitives by the FBIs website,
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vc3VwcG9ydGJyaWFuYS5vcmc=>1
is going to trial, 1 resisted a grand jury and
was imprisoned for 8 months and any number of
people who have shut the door on investigators or
made their intention of non-cooperation publicly well known.
3) And last but not least the classic snitch
enabler comment...He only told them what they
knew anyway This will remind people who have been
involved in the animal rights movement of the
justifications used by
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lm5vY29tcHJvbWlzZS5vcmcvaXNzdWVzLzI1aGFsbG9mc2hhbWUuaHRtbA==>Justin
Samuel for snitching on
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vZW4ud2lraXBlZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpL1BldGVyX0RhbmllbF9Zb3VuZw==>Peter
Young years ago. In fact, its the reason pretty
much always cited by people who cooperate with
investigators. I cant help but wonder why Darren
divulged to the government details of a conflict
we had in 2001-- something having nothing to do with any indictable offense.
When one side lies, obscures, hides and refuses
to be forthright, resolution of these issues is
difficult and next to impossible. Yet, the
behavior of Darren and his support person have
used these methods to postpone the inevitable
conclusion. For some time, the official story
from Darrens support person was that he was not
cooperating. After much evidence surfaced that he
was, including his departure from the
non-cooperators joint litigation agreement, his
refusal to answer any questions from outside
supporters about his cooperation, his letters to
both the
"<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmVhcnRoZmlyc3Rqb3VybmFsLm9yZy8=>Earth
First! Journal" and
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnNwaXJpdG9mZnJlZWRvbS5vcmcudWs=>UK
ELPSN (Earth liberation Prisoners Support
Network) asking for clarification about their
policies on cooperation and his plea hearing
taking place at the same time as other
cooperating witnesses as well as his lawyers
fervent arguments for sealing his whole plea
bargain, it became impossible to deny his
cooperation. Then, the story changed, seemingly
overnight, acknowledging his cooperation but
offering support for him nonetheless (it should
be noted that this article of continued support
for Darren from his lone support person and
resist.ca only came about due to agitation and
questions being put to them by political prisoner
supporters). Comments made by US attorneys,
Darrens lawyer Dan Finer and the judge all prove
that not only did Darren cooperate but he was a
very useful and extraordinary witness (some
conjecture that he had lots to say about issues
like computer security, past Canadian crimes and
how to locate one of the fugitives-- herself a
Canadian and former co-defendant of Darrens).
Darrens extraordinary cooperation got him a
37-month sentence despite these issues:
1) He was arrested with his girlfriend (and
cooperating witness in the same case, Chelsea
Gerlach) living under false identities with many stolen fake IDs.
2) He was already banned from the US and had been deported in the late 1990s.
3) He had already done a short sentence for ALF actions in Canada in 1992.
4) He was indicted for sending razor blades to
bear hunt outfitters in 2000 and charges were
dropped due to the governments reluctance to identify informants.
5) When arrested, he had large amounts of illegal
drugs and automatic weapons in his apartment and
a cache in the Siuslaw National Forest.
Its absurd to think that Darren got a 37-month
sentence for any other reason except his
extensive cooperation. My co-defendant Jonathan
Paul got 51 months for one arson from 1997 and
hadnt been engaged in any future acts of
property destruction. But, he didnt cooperate so
the feds gave him 14 more months than Darren. The
question remains, then, is 14 months less in
prison really worth the betrayal of your friends
and allies? Maybe Darren can address that in his essay.
Im sure Darren will not deny his cooperation but
Im certain he will deflect attention by
minimizing his cooperation or slogging either the
non-cooperating defendants or those who snitched
on him. That sort of behavior is what Ive come
to expect from the cooperating defendants-- blame
everyone else, take no responsibility for your
actions and minimize your betrayal. Darren seems
to think that he wont ever have to testify in
open court. Maybe he thinks the so-called
fugitives wont get caught but sadly, thats
unlikely. Maybe he thinks that Canada will offer
him protection and wont send him to the United
States. The cases of
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lmxlb25hcmRwZWx0aWVyLm5ldA==>Leonard
Peltier,
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmdyYWhhbWRlZmVuc2Uub3Jn>John
Graham,
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnRyZWFycm93Lm9yZw==>Tre
Arrow and U.S. soldiers trying to gain refuge in
Canada all show that Canada is more than happy to
assist the U.S. anytime. It is possible that
Darren was told by the government that he wont
be called as a witness but that wouldnt be legal
considering that his plea bargain says he doesnt
have additional agreements with the government.
My theory is that he is a major witness for 3
so-called fugitives that are indicted for the
2001 BLM Litchfield horse release/arson (oddly
enough, Darren did not receive a terrorism
enhancement for this action despite the fact it
was a government facility and the communiqué
stated government policy as a rationale for the action!)
There has been much clamoring for Darren to
unseal the parts of his plea agreement that
covers cooperation (paragraphs 14-17). All the
cooperating witnesses in the case have this
section sealed and even myself and the 3 other
non-cooperating defendants can only view the
full, unsealed plea bargain in the company of our
lawyers. What is in this agreement and 3
paragraphs? I am prohibited from sharing the
specifics but I believe strongly that the public
and the media need to see these sections.
Darrens support persons argument for why it
cannot be unsealed is that he no longer has a
lawyer since he had a panel attorney (a
state-funded private attorney). We will see what
happens when motions are made to unseal those
parts of the plea agreement. With multiple books
being written and films being made, it is
imperative these plea bargains be unsealed. Then,
there could be some honest discussion and
analysis about what happened in this case.
I challenge Darren to unseal those paragraphs in
his plea bargain and the 200 pages of his
302/debrief documents which detail his
cooperation. Im sure many people in the movement
would help pay for that! I have no faith he will
take me up on my offer but that information would
help clarify the issues many have argued over.
So, its November 2007 and Im looking forward to
seeing this promised essay. Something tells me it wont come anytime soon.
P.S.-- Ive referenced resist.ca, but let me
explain. Recently, resist.ca has come out in
support of Darren (see statement
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnJlc2lzdC5jYS9ub2RlLzE0Mw==>here).
Whether this is a deeply held position or his ex
Megans asking for favors for her ex is unknown.
Either way, its pathetic to think a so-called
radical tech collective would publicly support
and provide web-space (which they always say is
so limited) to a snitch. In light of this, I
think now is the time to pull ALL support from
resist.ca including your email accounts and
websites (such as
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd2lpbmlta2lpa2FhLndvcmRwcmVzcy5jb20v>Wii'nimkiikaa
and
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vYW5pbWFscmlnaHRzZWRtb250b24uYmxvZ3Nwb3QuY29tLzIwMDcvMDkvd29sdmVzLWluLXNoZWVwcy1jbG90aGluZy5odG1s>Orion
from Ontario already have). Do you really want
your email and website hosted on resist.ca after
you have read
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vcG9ydGxhbmQuaW5keW1lZGlhLm9yZy9lbi8yMDA3LzA4LzM2MzMyOC5zaHRtbA==>this?
On a related note, Chelsea Gerlachs site is
hosted on mutualaid.org. Now that they have been
notified about this situation and her actions, I
am hoping they will immediately cease their
support for her and pull her site and email
accounts. Continued support for cooperating
defendants is an insult to all of us who did not
cooperate and destructive to our movements.
Please send a polite and educational email to
mutualaid.org (info at mutualaid.org or
support at mutualaid.org) asking them to end their
support of activists who turn other activists in
and send them to prison. My relationship with
mutualaid.org was always good and I hope they make the right choice.
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
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