Posted on 04/12/2004 5:09:38 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Earth Liberation Front member gets 42 months for vandalism By SCOTT HARPER, The Virginian-Pilot © April 13, 2004 Last updated: 7:12 PM
Background Coverage: Extreme environmentalists target vehicles, buildings --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RICHMOND — Decrying environmental sabotage as “extremely troubling” and “arrogant,” a federal judge Monday sentenced a member of the radical Earth Liberation Front to 42 months in prison for a 2002 vandalism spree in greater Richmond that damaged new homes, SUVs, construction equipment and fast-food restaurants.
Aaron Labe Linas, 19, apologized in court for the property attacks – called “direct actions” by ELF, an underground environmental group considered a domestic terrorist organization by the FBI – and said he accepts his punishment.
“I should not be here today,” said Linas, dressed in a dark suit, his friends and family dabbing tears from their eyes at the back of the courtroom. “I should be at school, studying.”
Linas is the first of three former students at Douglas S. Freeman High School in Henrico County to be sentenced for conspiring to cause more than $200,000 in damage to vehicles and structures that ELF views as contributing to greed and environmental ruin. It is the first time in Virginia such a case has come to trial.
Co-defendants John Wade Burton, 19 , and Adam Virden Blackwell, 20 , are expected to receive similar federal prison terms when sentenced Wednesday and later this month.
The trio’s monkey-wrenching exploits often were carried out with kerosene, gasoline, sugar, axes, glass-defacing etching cream and threatening notes. Among the late-night actions against new subdivisions, McDonald’s restaurants and Ford dealerships, they also attempted to blow up a crane at Short Pump Town Center Mall in September 2002, when the 120-store complex was under construction in suburban Henrico County.
Matt Geary and Jeffrey Galston , attorneys for Linas, described their slender young client as bright, caring, passionate and determined. He was a Boy Scout, a camp counselor and had volunteered at a local nursing home.
He also was active in his school’s Friends of the Earth club, but soon became disillusioned by what he saw as corporate power and development interests constantly bowling over environmentalists trying to preserve nature. It was then he turned to ELF, which he found on the Internet.
“Unfortunately,” Geary said, “he allowed his passions for the environment ... to take him down the wrong path, to go too far.”
U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer said the case troubled him. He said Linas, from a comfortable middle-class background in suburban Richmond, had “probably never missed a meal ... had no reason to be angry at the world.”
Yet, Spencer said, Linas and his two fellow activists decided they knew what was best for the environment and society and took action against people and property they deemed wrong.
Spencer called this thinking “an arrogance that is deep and cutting,” and said it represents “the seed of destruction” in a free society.
Linas could have faced a harsher penalty, mostly because he destroyed evidence after discovering the FBI was on his trail.
Furthermore, prosecutors dropped any reference to the crime being an act of terrorism in exchange for Linas, Wade and Blackwell signing a plea agreement and cooperating with authorities.
Since then, Linas has been attending junior college and working a construction job. “Yeah, construction; isn’t that ironic?” Geary said.
Brian R. Hood , assistant U.S. attorney, said he might file papers that could lessen the 42-month prison stay, but described the environmental vandalism as “serious, violent felonies.”
Bobwade, have you seen any pictures of these clowns?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.