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CA: Radical environmentalist goes to trial under terror law (ELF spokesman)
AP on Bakersfield Californian ^ | 9/10/07 | Allison Hoffman - ap

Posted on 09/10/2007 6:57:43 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

A few hours after a $50 million condo project burned down, apparently in an eco-terror attack, Earth Liberation Front spokesman Rod Coronado stood in front of a San Diego audience and explained how to build a homemade Molotov cocktail.

Now, Coronado is going to trial in federal court on a single count of distributing information on explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction with the intent that his listeners commit illegal acts of violence, a charge that could land him in prison for up to 20 years under post-Sept. 11 legislation.

Prosecutors say Coronado, a longtime environmental activist renowned for helping sink whaling ships and destroying mink farms and animal research labs, wanted people to follow in his footsteps - although they do not link him to the condo project fire.

In court documents, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Parmley wrote that Coronado told his audience that "there is no other way to deal with these places than fire" and later told the television program "60 Minutes" that he was "asking for people courageous enough to take those risks for what they believe in."

Coronado's trial begins on the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Now 41 and recently married, the activist says the abrupt shift in America's tolerance for violence and civil disobedience dramatically changed the landscape for environmental activism in a way he didn't recognize until he was charged.

"In today's world, people striving for social change through the mediums that I have chosen are lumped together with the kinds of people who do fly airplanes into buildings," Coronado said recently from his home in Tucson, Ariz.

Jurors hearing the trial before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller will have to decide whether Coronado was simply exercising his First Amendment right to speak publicly about illegal activities or trying to inspire his listeners to go out and commit eco-terrorist acts in the name of conservation.

"What Coronado said is only very slightly different from what textbooks or newspapers routinely describe, so the question is to what extent does the speech lose its protection when the speaker intends it to be used for specific violence," said Eugene Volokh, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. "And then the difficulty is that judgments about a person's motive are often quite mushy."

As a spokesman for the Earth Liberation Front - a shadowy group named one of the FBI's top domestic terrorism targets - Coronado was a high-profile advocate of arson and other illegal tactics.

He arrived in San Diego on Aug. 1, 2003, hours after an early morning fire destroyed a five-story, 206-unit apartment complex, an underground parking garage and a construction crane in the University City area. A 12-foot banner left at the scene read: "If you build it, we will burn it. The ELFs are mad."

No one has ever been charged in connection with that fire, the costliest act of eco-terrorism in U.S. history.

At the lecture he gave that night, Coronado demonstrated how to make an incendiary device out of an apple-juice jug after an audience member asked about his tactics in a 1992 arson at a Michigan State University mink research facility, for which he served nearly five years in federal prison.

Coronado says he was simply answering a question, not inciting people to any specific action.

"It was a question about how I personally had carried out a specific action, which I'd already gone to prison for and paid for with four years of my life," Coronado told The Associated Press. "I guess I'm one of those naive Americans who was raised to believe that free speech was a protected right and that our government didn't imprison people for expressing opinions contrary to their own."

He wasn't charged until 2006. By then, he had gotten into trouble with Arizona authorities for disrupting a government mountain lion hunt in 2004 with other members of Earth First!, a group best known for forest protests aimed at halting logging. He was sentenced to eight months in prison for conspiring to impede a federal officer and destroying government snare traps and sensors.

In September 2006, Coronado renounced violence, writing that the "economic sabotage" favored by environmentalists in the 1980s and 1990s should be set aside in favor of building environmentally sustainable communities.

"I almost feel like it's almost more of a disservice when (environmental activists) engage in tactics that might be considered equally unjust," Coronado said. "It's not that I don't recognize their importance historically, but there's just not enough return when we engage in tactics that may feel good at the time but don't gain anything long term."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: coronado; domesticterrorism; earthliberationfront; ecoterror; ecoterrorism; elf; envirnment; environment; environmentalist; jihadinamerica; radical; sandiego; terror

1 posted on 09/10/2007 6:57:45 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge
He'd be a great "roomie" for Ward Churchill.

They could spend hours arguing which of them is most liberal.

2 posted on 09/10/2007 7:00:46 PM PDT by capt. norm (Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for.)
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To: NormsRevenge

“Now, Coronado is going to trial in federal court on a single count of distributing information on explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction with the intent that his listeners commit illegal acts of violence, a charge that could land him in prison for up to 20 years under post-Sept. 11 legislation.

It is very difficult to prove intent beyond a reasonable doubt. He is the only witness with direct knowledge, and he will say he had no such intent, but was just answering the question.


3 posted on 09/10/2007 7:05:00 PM PDT by proxy_user
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To: proxy_user; All

Clinton appointee Judge..

Miller, Jeffrey T.
Born 1943 in New York, NY

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. District Court, Southern District of California
Nominated by William J. Clinton on January 7, 1997, to a seat vacated by Gordon Thompson, Jr.; Confirmed by the Senate on May 23, 1997, and received commission on May 27, 1997.

Education:
University of California, Los Angeles, B.A., 1964

University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, J.D., 1967

Professional Career:
Deputy state attorney general, California, 1968-1987
Judge, California Superior Court, San Diego County, 1987-1997

Race or Ethnicity: White

Gender: Male


4 posted on 09/10/2007 7:09:25 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed ... ICE’s toll-free tip hotline—1-866-DHS-2-ICE)
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To: proxy_user
At the lecture he gave that night, Coronado demonstrated how to make an incendiary device out of an apple-juice jug after an audience member asked about his tactics in a 1992 arson at a Michigan State University mink research facility, for which he served nearly five years in federal prison.

--

Tough call. ;-) --

Clinton Judge, he'll walk.

5 posted on 09/10/2007 7:12:20 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed ... ICE’s toll-free tip hotline—1-866-DHS-2-ICE)
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To: NormsRevenge

I wonder how long he’ll last in the pokey.


6 posted on 09/10/2007 7:13:30 PM PDT by Lancer_N3502A
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To: NormsRevenge
"In today's world, people striving for social change through the mediums that I have chosen are lumped together with the kinds of people who do fly airplanes into buildings," Coronado said recently from his home in Tucson, Ariz.

In other words, his motives are the only things that separate him from Bin Laden.

Coronado: "Kill for puppies; but not Islam."

OBL: "Kill for Islam; not puppies."

The problem is the willingness to commit acts of terrorism--not the motive.

7 posted on 09/10/2007 7:14:58 PM PDT by ModelBreaker
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To: Lancer_N3502A

2nd times a charm.. he’s a pro,, he lasted part of a 5 year sentence.. sorry about his new wife and all.


8 posted on 09/10/2007 7:15:46 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed ... ICE’s toll-free tip hotline—1-866-DHS-2-ICE)
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To: ModelBreaker

It is one thing to strike a match, another to light the fuse.. and a fine line between


9 posted on 09/10/2007 7:16:57 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed ... ICE’s toll-free tip hotline—1-866-DHS-2-ICE)
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To: NormsRevenge

Walk? He’ll probably get damages. :-)


10 posted on 09/10/2007 7:18:11 PM PDT by DoughtyOne ((Victory will never be achieved while defining Conservatism downward, and forsaking its heritage.))
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To: NormsRevenge

Did he opt for a non-jury trial?

If he did not, the jury will have to decide what consistitutes proof of intent beyond a reasonable doubt.


11 posted on 09/10/2007 7:23:06 PM PDT by proxy_user
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To: proxy_user

It’s a jury trial per the article..


12 posted on 09/10/2007 7:25:00 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed ... ICE’s toll-free tip hotline—1-866-DHS-2-ICE)
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To: NormsRevenge
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Did someone call for an Elf? Oops, sorry.

13 posted on 09/10/2007 7:43:36 PM PDT by rfp1234 (Nothing is better than eternal happiness. A ham sandwich is better than nothing. Therefore...)
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To: NormsRevenge
It’s a jury trial per the article..

Most on here don't read the entire article. They read the headline and the first paragraph or so..

As far as using terrorism laws to prosecute.. ehh, I think they have a better chance of a conviction if they use the Arson laws.
14 posted on 09/10/2007 8:47:57 PM PDT by BigTom85 (Proud Gun Owner and Member of NRA)
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To: NormsRevenge

Rod Coronado
"I love fire, be it around a campfire with friends or when consuming an empty fur farm, animal laboratory or luxury condominum built on the homes of my animal relations."

furcommission.com

15 posted on 09/10/2007 8:49:26 PM PDT by Daaave ("Where it all ends I can't fathom my friends")
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To: Daaave
Save the environment,
kill an environmentalist.
16 posted on 09/10/2007 10:30:52 PM PDT by TheDon (The DemocRAT party is the party of TREASON! Overthrow the terrorist's congress!)
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To: NormsRevenge
Judge declares mistrial against radical environmentalist
17 posted on 09/19/2007 5:45:50 PM PDT by SmithL (I don't do Barf Alerts, you're old enough to read and decide for yourself)
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