Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Domestic Eco-Terrorism—Guilty Plea

While international sponsored by such groups as Al Qaeda and Abu Sayyaf tends to grab headlines, there are many acts of domestic terrorism which occur every day within the United States, even if they do not garner as much publicity as those on a global scale. For example, police in Florida are currently investigating “a homemade device that spewed a chemical throughout [a] building being readied to open as Café Risque, an adult-entertainment store.”[1] And in Nutley, New Jersey, officials are investigating a homemade chemical bomb that went off last week in a parking lot which created a 1-foot crater and damaged a Toyota Camry; they are investigating whether it is related to a bomb threat called in to a school in the area on May 16.[2]

On the other side of the country, a woman pleaded guilty yesterday in a Sacramento Federal District Court to one count of conspiracy in connection with a plan to “blow up commercial and governmental facilities in the Sacramento region.”[3] Lauren Weiner has agreed to cooperate with the government’s prosecution of her remaining co-defendants, Eric Taylor McDavid and Zachary O. Jensen, who allegedly plotted to destroy the U.S. Forest Services Institute of Forest Genetics, taking credit for their actions on behalf of the Earth Liberation Front [hereinafter ELF].[4] The ELF has been identified by the FBI as “a terrorist movement dedicated to violent attacks on what its followers believe are symbols of society’s destruction and exploitation of the environment,”[5] and the Animal Liberation Front is considered to be an ally of the ELF.[6] The trio also allegedly plotted to destroy the Nimbus Dam, a nearby fish hatchery, cellular telephone towers, and electrical power stations.[7]

The case is based in part on electronic surveillance, as well as “information from a paid FBI who posed as an ELF sympathizer and infiltrated the group.”[8] Some of the evidence that the government planned to use against Ms. Weiner was that she purchased two books—The Poor Man’s James Bond and The Survival Chemist--and that she purchased “several items to be used in making destructive devices, including canning jars, coffee filters, a mixing bowl, a hot plate, petroleum jelly, a gasoline can, bleach, an extension cord and battery testers.”[9]

One interesting aspect of the case is that none of the individuals were charged under the Chapter 113B terrorism statutes, even though the statutes are broad enough to encapsulate the alleged offenses. Instead, the trio were charged under 18 U.S.C. § 844(n), which is in Chapter 40 (relating to explosive materials), and which states that any person who conspires to maliciously damage or destroy a government building or other property used in interstate commerce can be punished in the manner proscribed for a completed offense.


[1] , NBC 6 News, May 31, 2006.
[2] Christopher Lang, , Nutley Journal, May 24, 2006.
[3] Denny Walsh, , Sacramento Bee, May 31, 2006.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] See National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, , Terrorism Knowledge Base, last updated May 10, 2006.
[7] Walsh, supra note 2.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.

posted by McNabb Associates, P.C. @ 2:18 PM