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<font size=3><br>
</font><tt><a href="http://www.supportpeter.com">
http://www.supportpeter.com</a><br><br>
More details of Peter's court date will be posted later, but here is
the<br><br>
AP article summarizing the days events. Thanks to everyone who
came<br>
out or attended other support demos.<br>
Peter Young Support Committee<br><br>
Mink farm raider gets two-year term, urges more raids<br>
TODD RICHMOND<br>
Associated Press<br><br>
MADISON, Wis. - An animal rights activist who freed thousands of mink
from<br>
Midwestern fur farms and then dodged federal authorities for years
was<br>
sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday after urging his supporters
in<br>
the courtroom to raid more farms.<br><br>
Peter Daniel Young, 28, of Mercer Island, Wash., became an idol to
fellow<br>
activists during his seven years on the run from the FBI before he
was<br>
arrested in March for trying to shoplift CDs from a Starbucks in San
Jose,<br>
Calif.<br><br>
Dozens of supporters demonstrated on the sidewalk outside the
federal<br>
courthouse Tuesday, holding signs that read "Free Peter" and
"Fur - No<br>
Skin Off Your Back."<br><br>
They jammed U.S. District Judge Stephen Crocker's courtroom, sitting
on<br>
each other's laps after the spectator benches filled. They applauded
and<br>
cheered when U.S. marshals led Young into the room. Young nodded and<br>
smiled at them.<br><br>
"I don't think he's wrong at all," said Anna Marie Loeffler,
22, of<br>
Madison. "I completely support what he did."<br><br>
Young read a statement to the court, calling his mink farm raids an
"act<br>
of conscience." He told fur farmers in the audience "it was an
absolute<br>
pleasure to raid your farms" and urged everyone in the courtroom to
go out<br>
and attack more farms.<br><br>
His fans erupted in applause until Crocker threatened to kick out the
next<br>
person who clapped.<br><br>
The judge called Young an arrogant vigilante and warned him against
ever<br>
repeating his crimes.<br><br>
"He clearly relishes his role as a martyr for his cause,"
Crocker said.<br>
"Just sit on your bully pulpit and tell other people what to do
because<br>
the consequences for you will be dire (the next time)."<br><br>
Young had pleaded guilty in September to two counts of animal
enterprise<br>
terrorism in a deal with prosecutors.<br><br>
The judge sentenced him to the two-year prison term and $254,840 in<br>
restitution to the mink farmers. He also sentenced him to one year
of<br>
supervised release and 360 hours of community service that must be
spent<br>
helping humans, not other species, as Crocker put it.<br><br>
Young and accomplice Justin Samuel were originally indicted in Madison
in<br>
1998 on four extortion charges and the two animal enterprise
terrorism<br>
counts. Federal prosecutors said they broke onto mink farms in
Wisconsin,<br>
South Dakota and Iowa in 1997, cut fences and freed the animals from
their<br>
cages.<br><br>
Investigators believe they were acting on behalf of the Animal
Liberation<br>
Front, a radical group that aims to destroy animal industries it
considers<br>
inhumane, although Young's attorney, Chris Kelly, denies that.<br><br>
Both Young and Samuel disappeared after the indictment came
down.<br><br>
Samuel was captured in Belgium in 1999. He later struck a deal with<br>
prosecutors and served two years in prison.<br><br>
Authorities dropped the four extortion counts against Young in July
after<br>
deciding a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2003 invalidated the legal
theory<br>
behind them.<br><br>
Kelly tried to persuade Crocker to reduce the two-year sentence. He
said<br>
Young has accepted responsibility by pleading guilty.<br><br>
Kelly went on to argue the attacks were an act of civil disobedience
and<br>
giving Young the full two years could have a "chilling effect"
on free<br>
speech.<br><br>
That left assistant U.S. attorney Bob Anderson flabbergasted. He
called<br>
Young's acts an insult to true civil disobedience and likened him to
a<br>
petty thief and a terrorist.<br><br>
"What he did is not noble," Anderson said. "He chose
violence."<br><br>
Crocker agreed. True civil activists don't skulk around at night and
flee<br>
from the law as Young did, the judge said.<br><br>
Kelly railed against Anderson labeling Young a terrorist, which
Kelly<br>
defined as someone who uses violence to harm human beings.<br><br>
"It's overblown rhetoric," Kelly said. "Mr. Young didn't
use violence<br>
against any human being."<br><br>
Crocker asked Kelly if he thought white people who burned black
churches<br>
weren't terrorists. "This did not strike terror into the hearts of
the<br>
victims?" the judge said.<br><br>
"I don't think 'terrorist' applies to someone who cuts a fence in
the<br>
middle of the night," Kelly said.<br><br>
Alex Ott, owner of a mink farm near Tomahawk, testified Young and
Samuel<br>
freed more than 350 minks from his farm.<br><br>
He said after the hearing he should be allowed to attack Young's home
when<br>
Young gets out of prison "and see how he likes it."<br><br>
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