Justice Served or Overzealous Justice? You Decide.
A radical activist who helped set a $1 million fire to protest research on genetically modified crops was sentenced Thursday to nearly 22 years in prison _ even more than the prosecution recommended.
Marie Mason decided to “elevate her grievances beyond the norms of civilized society” through fire and destruction, U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney said. The case _ which was prosecuted as domestic terrorism _ was “about an abandonment of the marketplace of ideas,” he added.
The explosion and fire caused more than $1 million in damage to Michigan State University’s Agriculture Hall on New Year’s Eve 1999.
In her plea agreement, she also admitted causing another $3 million in damage through other acts from 1999 to 2003, including destroying homes under construction in the Detroit area and Indiana and setting fire to two boats owned by a man who formerly raised minks.
The 47-year-old Mason, of Cincinnati, had acted on behalf of the radical group Earth Liberation Front, or ELF, which has been implicated in a spate of similar crimes, mostly in the West.
She had pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy and arson after reaching a deal with prosecutors. The prosecution had been aided by Frank Ambrose, her former husband, who cooperated with the FBI.
The investigation was cold until spring 2007, when a man looking for scrap cardboard found gas masks, an M-80 explosive, maps and anti-government writings in a suburban Detroit trash bin.
They belonged to Ambrose, who apparently was trying to shed remnants of his past. The FBI searched his home, and he became an informant, blowing the whistle on himself and Mason and going undercover to record 178 conversations with other activists.
At MSU, Mason and Ambrose targeted a campus office that held records on research related to moth-resistant potatoes for poor parts of Africa. Computers, file cabinets and desks were doused with a flammable liquid. Vapors contributed to an explosion, and the fire got out of control.
The explosion burned Mason’s hair and prevented her from finishing the message, “No GMO,” on a wall, a reference to genetically modified organisms.
The Libertarian in me says; A lady gets 22 years for setting fire to a Eco-Lab, but a President and his cabinet deceive the American people into a war that had nothing to do with September 11’th and he is sitting in Texas. Something is wrong with America. For the record, nobody was killed as a result of this fire, 4000+ of our finest young people are dead. The fire cost what? 1 Million?? How much is the Iraq war costing us; 1 Trillion? Does anyone else see the oddball nature of this? Of course, the Fascist Neo-Con’s just love this conviction. That’s because they just love tossing around that word, “Terrorism.” That’s because it serves their masters well.
Thankfully, Mason’s lawyer is appealing this judgment, and I believe it is warranted, I believe this crime is wrong, but 22 years is extremely excessive.
Update: Jazz Shaw who writes at the Moderate Voice, kind of agrees with me.
About time. Throw the book at her. I’m pleased, justice was served.
Bernie Madoff stole $50 billion and I bet even he doesn’t get 22 years in jail. She may deserve punishment, but this is excessive.