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<font size=3>Civil Rights Outreach Committee<br>
<br>
For immediate Release: March 6, 2008<br>
Contacts: Kassey Baker, 360-561-5261<br>
Lauren Regan, Atty, Civil Liberties Defense Center,
541-687-9180<br>
<br>
Tacoma Jury Convicts Woman of Arson; Hangs on Other Counts<br>
<br>
Tacoma, WA - A federal jury was unable to reach a decision on
conspiracy<br>
and transportation of a destructive device but convicted Briana
Waters, a<br>
32-year-old mother and violin teacher and former resident of
Olympia of<br>
arson. The government charged her with being a lookout in
connection with<br>
the May, 2001 arson of the Center for Urban Horticulture at the
University<br>
of Washington in Seattle. If convicted on all counts, Waters would
have<br>
faced a sentence of 35 years. The two informants who testified
against her<br>
in the case, who admitted to participating in the arson, face
between<br>
three and seven years. Ms. Waters' sentencing is set for May
30.<br>
<br>
Without any physical evidence linking Ms. Waters directly to the
arson,<br>
the government built its case on the testimony of the two
informants, and<br>
a number of pieces of circumstantial evidence. The defense argued
that the<br>
informants falsely accused Waters in order to avoid 35-year
prison<br>
sentences themselves, and that their testimony was demonstrably
false.<br>
<br>
Among the pieces of circumstantial evidence introduced by the
government<br>
was a folder with a note on the cover from Waters to one of
the<br>
informants, Jennifer Kolar, containing various radical pamphlets
and<br>
publications. Prosecutors highlighted the most sensationalist
passages in<br>
the articles, and sought to ascribe these views to Ms. Waters.
Waters<br>
testified that she did not write the materials, did not agree with
them,<br>
and did not pass them to Kolar. The defense argued that the
informant must<br>
have substituted other articles for the ones that Waters actually
put in<br>
the folder. While Waters' fingerprints were on the folder, they
were not<br>
on any of the articles. The government countered that Waters'
boyfriend's<br>
fingerprints were on the articles, and that he is a
"fugitive" suspected<br>
of one or more arsons. The defense pointed out that the boyfriend
is not<br>
on trial.<br>
<br>
"The government's case was primarily based on character
assassination and<br>
guilt by association," said civil rights attorney Ben
Rosenfeld, a member<br>
of the Board of Directors of the Civil Liberties Defense Center.
"Evidence<br>
of other people's writings never should never have been allowed to
be used<br>
against her."<br>
<br>
Briana Waters has maintained her innocence to all the charges. An
appeal<br>
is likely.<br>
<br>
This trial is another chapter in the federal government's
"Operation<br>
Backfire," also dubbed the "Green Scare," in which
the government has<br>
hounded the environmental activist community, overcharged a number
of<br>
individuals with a federal firearms enhancement applying to bombs
and<br>
missiles, and branded them as terrorists, even though none of the
events<br>
resulted in a single injury.<br>
<br>
Central to the jury's consideration of two of the charges against
Ms.<br>
Waters was the question whether she was responsible for helping to
build<br>
or transport explosive devices. The jury deadlocked on these
charges. <br>
During the first stages of the investigation of the "Street of
Dreams"<br>
fires in a housing development in Snohomish County, WA, officials
falsely<br>
reported that explosive devices were found. Later, BATF Spokesman
Kelvin<br>
Crenshaw made that no such devices were found. "It is
inconceivable that<br>
officials could have made such a mistake. It raises the question
of<br>
deliberate jury tampering by the government, and also calls into
question<br>
the reliability of the government's information in general,"
said<br>
Rosenfeld.<br>
<br>
Briana Waters has steadfastly maintained her innocence.<br>
Copies of a press packet with current related articles and
background<br>
information are available from civilrightsoutreach@gmail.com. For
more<br>
information, go to
<a href="http://www.cldc.org/" eudora="autourl">www.cldc.org</a>.
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