[Ppnews] Update about Daniel McGowan's case

[Political Prisoner News]

Begin forwarded message:

Dear friends,

We have been relatively quiet these days and 
wanted to update you on things going on with Daniel's case.

At a March 2nd court date, sentencing dates were 
set for all defendants. The sentencing dates for 
the non-cooperating defendants in the case are as follows:

June 1 - Joyanna Zacher and Nathan Block's sentencing. 9 AM
June 4 - Daniel McGowan's sentencing. 9 AM
June 5 - Jonathan Paul's sentencing. 9 AM

We are encouraging people to attend these dates 
and support the defendants. Be sure to arrive 
early (only 42 seats!), dress well for court and 
please behave during the proceedings. Oregon 
Federal Court is located at 405 East 8th Avenue. 
(Be careful crossing Franklin Boulevard). 
<http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&formtype=address&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&cat=&address=405+East+8th+Avenue&city=eugene&state=or&zipcode=>View 
map.

There is also a very important court date coming 
up in May. At a May 15th hearing, Judge Aiken 
will hear arguments on the "terrorism 
enhancement" the government wants to have applied 
on all defendants in the case. You can read an 
update on this aspect of the case in today's 
Eugene Weekly <http://eugeneweekly.com/2007/03/29/news.html#2>here. (Below)
Letters to the Eugene Weekly regarding this 
important issue can be sent to 
<mailto:editor at eugeneweekly.com>editor at eugeneweekly.com 
(Letters to the Editor (to be published in the 
paper) should be clearly labeled as such, be no 
more than 250 words and must include your full name, address and phone number.

We are happy to announce that we are starting a 
matching grant campaign for Daniel's tuition. We 
have a donor that will match your donation dollar 
for dollar up to $12,000. This means we will be 
able to double your donation i.e. Your $25 
donation means we get $50. Thanks to this 
generosity we are in a position to cover Daniel's 
masters degree tuition in full. Please consider 
contributing and help Daniel earn his masters 
degree while he serves his sentence. You can 
donate online through the paypal button on 
<http://www.supportdaniel.org/>www.supportdaniel.org 
or send a check/money order made out to "Lisa McGowan", POB 106, NY, NY 10156.

Finally, we are organizing a massive book sale in 
New York City on May 5th at the 
<http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&formtype=address&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&cat=&address=astor+place+and+third+avenue&city=new+york&state=ny&zipcode=>Book 
Thug Nation book table on Astor Place between 3rd 
and 4th Avenues at 12  noon. Please save the date 
and start looking through your shelves now to see 
what you can donate. When the sale is closer, we 
will announce a book drop off location.  If you 
don't live in NYC and want to help, you can 
peruse our book stock and buy books from our 
amazon.com shop 
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/shops/index.html/104-8431116-8638343?ie=UTF8&sellerID=A2I8H2A447NK2A>here.

Thanks for all your support!
<http://www.supportdaniel.org/>Family and Friends of Daniel McGowan



SABOTAGE OR TERRORISM?

On May 15 federal Judge Ann Aiken will decide 
whether the Oregon eco-saboteurs are arsonists or terrorists.

Oral arguments on the application of sentencing 
guidelines for the "terrorism enhancement" will 
take place starting at 10 am. This enhancement 
could add up to 20 years to the sentences for all 
District of Oregon "Operation Backfire" defendants.

Sentencing of the eco-sabotage defendants will 
begin on May 22, one week after the decision is 
made on the enhancement. All hearings will take 
place in Judge Aiken's courtroom in the Wayne L. 
Morse U.S. Courthouse in Eugene.

According to attorney Lauren Regan, whose Civil 
Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) is involved in 
the cases, "The enhancement's application will be 
affected by whether the property damaged or 
destroyed was government owned or private."

If the judge decides the terrorism enhancement 
applies to the cases, then each defendant will 
argue individually against the enhancement. U.S. 
sentencing guidelines state that for the 
terrorism enhancement to apply, the defendant or 
his or conduct must be "calculated to influence 
or affect the conduct of the government by intimidation or coercion."

The CLDC contends that the government is seeking 
to label these defendants as terrorists in order 
to justify the amount of money it has spent 
pursuing so-called terrorists. And if activists 
become labeled terrorists, the CLDC expects a 
chilling effect upon progressive movements.

Sentencing dates for the defendants begin with 
Stanislaus Meyerhoff on May 22, and continue each 
day except May 28 until the last defendant, 
Jonathan Paul, is sentenced June 5. 
Identification will be required to enter the 
courtroom, and if the courtroom fills, the 
hearings will be relayed to another room via closed-circuit TV.

Three Operation Backfire cases will be dealt with 
in Washington: Briana Waters, Jen Kolar and Lacey 
Phillabaum. The terrorism enhancement is not 
being sought in those cases. Waters, the only 
defendant to continue to plead not guilty, will 
go to trial on Sept. 17. Kolar and Phillabaum 
both pled guilty and await sentencing. Phillabaum 
self-reported to federal prison on Jan. 29. ­ Camilla Mortensen




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