Calif. student gets 8 years for SUV vandalism

MSNBC ^ | 4/19/2005 | MSNBC

[NY.SS-Bar9]

  MSNBC.com

Calif. student gets 8 years for SUV vandalism
Sentenced for 2003 spree that torched Hummers, other gas guzzlers

Reuters

Updated: 9:45 p.m. ET April 18, 2005

LOS ANGELES - An aspiring physicist was sentenced to more than eight years in prison on Monday and ordered to pay $3.5 million for his role in a spree of arson and vandalism that targeted gas-guzzling Hummers and other sports utility vehicles.

Rejecting pleas for clemency from William Cottrell, a 24-year-old doctoral candidate in physics at the California Institute of Technology, U.S. District Judge Gary Klausner added more time to the sentence after finding that Cottrell was trying to sway consumers with his anti-SUV message.

The slogans Cottrell spray-painted onto vehicles included “Fat Lazy Americans,” “No Respect for Earth” and “SUV = Terrorism.”

Cottrell, who admitted only spray-painting and testified he did not know that two friends were bringing Molotov cocktails, promised he would never break the law again. The two friends have fled the country to avoid prosecution, authorities said.

“I want nothing more than to be a physicist,” Cottrell said. ..............

Lawyers mount autism defense
Cottrell’s attorneys asked for the five-year mandatory minimum sentence saying that their client has Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism marked by impaired ability to understand social situations.

.....

But Judge Klausner said high intelligence should work against a defendant, not in his favor. ..........

[ken5050]

and if I undersytand the new law..he can't file bankruptcy while in prison to avoid the $3.5 mil penalty....if he makes money for the rest of his life..he pays..

[CDHart]

This is a longer sentence than some violent criminals get.

Carolyn

[Drew68]

These eco-terrorists, many of whom are college students from middle to upper-class backgrounds and likely have never spent time behind bars before, seem to believe that their actions are altruistic (not to mention exciting and fun) and that any punishment they might face would be a slap on the wrist.

Now we have an individual who could have possibly contributed positively to society (Asperger's Syndrome my ass) getting sent up to spend hard time with violent sociopaths. He's going to have a rude awakening.

I hope this sends a message. These people are malicious in their destruction of private property. Cotrell might not think so but he deserves every hour of his eight-year sentence (as do his buddies who managed to flee to Europe). This crap is serious and these people need to realize that our patience has worn thin.

[MisterRepublican]

From an AP story about this case in the San Diego Union-Tribune:

"Cottrell was arrested in March 2004 after authorities tracked e-mails that Cottrell, using an alias, sent to the Los Angeles Times. He told the newspaper in the e-mails that he was involved in the SUV attacks and affiliated with the Earth Liberation Front."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CA_SUV_ARSON_CAOL-?SITE=CADIU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Yet this Reuters story completely omits the fact that he was affiliated with ELF, a domestic terrorist organization. No bias involved, of course.

[Drew68]

This is a longer sentence than some violent criminals get.

That nobody has been killed or seriously injured yet by these people is simple luck. It is only a matter of time before someone is killed who either found themselves in the wrong place or dies trying to fight one of their fires.

And I think it is unlikely he will serve the entire eight years.

[Anvilhead]

"And I think it is unlikely he will serve the entire eight years."

No he won't, but the 3-5 or so years he spends there are going to seem like decades. This will either break him or turn him into an animal.

Kinda fitting if you ask me.

[gridlock]

24-year-old "student". Why does MSNBC call this vandal a "student"? Why not California "man"?

If you had no other information, and you just saw the headline about a student committng vandalism, how old would you guess the "student" was? Given that he is a student, and vandalism is a stupid-a$$ teeny-bopper crime, you would probably figure he was 16 or so. Youthful indiscretion and all that.

It is only after you read that he is an "aspiring physisist", and his eviro-weenie motivation is revealed do we finally get to the information, down the page, that this "student" is 24-years-old. He did this crime as an adult, for adult purposes, to influence other adults.

This is a big-boy crime, that is why he is doing big-boy time.

[MisterRepublican]

If this had been someone connected to a "Right Wing" group, the headline would have screamed the fact. But because it's a left wing, liberal, extremist group that most of the media agrees with, very little is made of the fact he belonged to ELF, a terrorist group.

[Drew68]

No he won't, but the 3-5 or so years he spends there are going to seem like decades. This will either break him or turn him into an animal.

Yep! There aren't going to be too many like-minded people where's he's going. Prison for people like this young man is going to be pure hell. I hope his friends are sweating.

[Northern Alliance]

This is a longer sentence than some violent criminals get

He was convicted of arson. That is a violent crime.

[canalabamian]

I guess he'll have plenty of time to wrap up that doctoral thesis from prison...

[csvset]

a form of autism marked by impaired ability to understand social situations.

I'm sure he'll understand prison life quick enough.

[Tannerone]

His friends do not give a "bleep". The friends are not living in an 8x10 cell.

The "enviro-duckheads" favorite expression is , "Not in my backyard!"

[blackdevl]

The drunk driver that killed my cousin got less than a year in prison.

[chainsaw]

This is a longer sentence than some violent criminals get.

"“I want nothing more than to be a physicist,” Cottrell said. .............."

It was also a monumentally stupid act for one so educated. If all he wanted to be was a physicist he should not have been out spray painting, and burning vehicles.

[clee1]

US District Judge...

This was Federal Court, and the feds don't have parole. He'll do every second of his sentence.

[chainsaw]

This will either break him or turn him into an animal.


I think his actions have already determined his animal status

[SIDENET]

“SUV = Terrorism.”

I would expect more from a doctoral student than this "profound" statement. Oh, well. I'm sure that he'll be popular in prison.

I wonder what his DU name is. ;-)