[Ppnews] Ready, Aim, Fire: The Politics of Arson

[Political Prisoner News]

<http://turtel.wordpress.com>http://turtel.wordpress.com

<http://turtel.wordpress.com/2007/01/26/ready-aim-fire-the-politics-of-arson/>Ready, 
Aim, Fire: The Politics of Arson


January 26th, 2007

Two Seton Hall students were sentenced today to five years in prison 
for setting a fire that killed three of their fellow students.  Three 
deaths, five years.  The two young men, Joseph Lapore and Sean 
Michael Ryan, could be out on parole in as little as 16 months.

Daniel McGowan is also going to serve prison time in an arson 
case.  He participated in an two arson attacks at a tree farm and a 
lumber company.  He didn't kill anyone.  Yet the shortest sentence he 
faces is longer than the 5 year maximum term that the two Seton Hall 
students will serve.

I am not someone who thinks that prison is a place that teaches 
people lessons, and I don't think that the Seton Hall students should 
be thrown in prison for life and the key tossed away.  But I do think 
that their sentencing highlights the political motivations behind the 
prosecution of McGowan and his fellow defendants allegedly affiliated 
with the Earth Liberation Front.

McGowan is an environmental activist from New York, known to many for 
his work as a spokesperson during the Republican National Convention 
in 2004.  In December 2005, McGowan was arrested for his role in two 
arson attacks that took place in Oregon in 2001.  His arrest came as 
part of a series of arrests around the country, targeting 
environmental activists alleged to be part of the Earth Liberation 
Front and the Animal Liberation Front.  He faced a trial that could 
result in him spending the rest of his life in prison.  He has now 
reached a <http://www.supportdaniel.org/files/McGowanPlea.pdf>plea 
agreement with prosecutors that will give him a sentence of somewhere 
between 8 years and 63 months, aka 5 years and 3 months.

So how does this compare to the Seton Hall students?  Well, the 
actions of Lapore and Ryan killed three people: John N. Giunta, Aaron 
Karol, and Frank Caltabilota, Jr.  More than 50 other students were 
injured, including some who were severely burned.  Lapore and Ryan 
set a paper banner on fire in their dorm, celebrating a victory by 
the Seton Hall basketball team.  The banner caught a sofa on 
fire.  Rather than run through the dorm banging on doors, alerting 
sleeping students to the fire, the two fled.  The three students that 
died were killed by smoke inhalation, deaths that could have been prevented.

There were no sprinklers in the dorm; the deaths led to a New Jersey 
law requiring all dorms to have sprinklers installed, the first of 
its kind in the nation.

Lapore and Ryan have said that the fire was a "prank that got out of 
hand," a claim rejected by family members of the dead.    Phillip 
Giunta, father of John, 
<http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/wireStory?id=2826452&page=1>told 
ABC News  "I don't think it was an accident. I don't think it was a 
prank. I think that's bull."   Lapore and Ryan, in their plea 
agreement, acknowledged that they had tried to cover up their role in 
the fire, convening a group of students at a local Dunkin Donuts the 
day after the fire and encouraging them to lie to investigators.

McGowan, in contrast, has never said that the fires he was involved 
in were anything as frivolous as a prank.  In a 
<http://www.supportdaniel.org/news/statements.html>statement to the 
judge when entering his plea agreement, McGowan said in part "I hope 
that you will see that my actions were not those of terrorist but of 
a concerned young person who was deeply troubled by the destruction 
of Oregon's beautiful old-growth forests and the dangers of 
genetically modified trees. After taking part in these two actions, I 
realized that burning things down did not fit with my visions or 
belief about how to create a better world. So I stopped committing 
these crimes."

The young man who harmed property only, perhaps misguided but 
certainly principled, will serve at least 5 years and three 
months.  Prosecutors are seeking the full 8 year sentence, with a 
possible "terrorism enhancement," according to a 
<http://www.supportdaniel.org/>website coordinated by McGowan's 
supporters.  The two young men who got drunk after a basketball game, 
lit a banner on fire, fled the scene, killed three and injured 
dozens, could be out of prison in 16 months.

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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