Seattle Times: Defendant in UW ecoterror trial takes stand, denies involvement

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004247255_apwstecoterrortrial2ndldwritethru.html

Defendant in UW ecoterror trial takes stand, denies involvement

By GENE JOHNSON

AP Legal Affairs Writer

A 32-year-old violin teacher accused of serving as a lookout while her
friends planted a devastating fire bomb at the University of Washington in
2001 took the stand in her own defense Wednesday, telling jurors she had
no part in the crime and never believed in setting fires to make political
statements.

"It's very dangerous to human lives," Briana Waters, of Oakland, Calif.,
testified in U.S. District Court. "I've always been someone who feels very
strongly about not hurting people in any way."

Waters was one of five people indicted in the arson at the university's
Center for Urban Horticulture, and she faces a minimum of 35 years in
prison if convicted of conspiracy, possessing an unregistered destructive
device, arson and use of a destructive device during a crime of violence.

The fire was one of the most notorious in a string of arsons perpetrated
by Eugene, Ore.- and Olympia-based members of the Earth Liberation Front,
a loosely organized collection of radical environmentalists, from the
mid-1990s to 2001. Eventually, more than a dozen people were indicted
following a nine-year investigation into arsons around the West.

No one was hurt in the UW arson, but the center was destroyed and rebuilt
at a cost of $7 million. It was targeted because the ELF activists
mistakenly believed researchers there were genetically engineering poplar
trees.

Two defendants, Lacey Phillabaum and Jennifer Kolar, have pleaded guilty.
They testified against Waters earlier in the trial. The other two alleged
participants were William "Avalon" Rodgers, who committed suicide in jail,
and Waters' then-boyfriend, Justin Solondz, who remains at large.

Phone records, rental car records and testimony indicate Waters was in
contact with at least some of the others around the time of the fire, and
that she obtained a rental car used in the crime.

Waters has been staying in a Tacoma rental home during the trial. Wearing
gold-framed glasses and with her long blond hair pulled back, she
testified in a soft, firm voice, frequently mentioning the young daughter
she will rarely see if convicted.

Waters' lawyers, Neil Fox and Robert Bloom, insist that prosecutors have
overreached by threatening draconian sentences to persuade those charged
in the UW fire and other arsons to plead guilty or testify falsely. Waters
is the only one of more than a dozen activists charged who declined to
plead guilty, instead taking her chances before a jury.

"She was part of a conspiracy in which millions of dollars of damage was
done," U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan said after court let out for the day.
"That's why it's a serious crime and has serious penalties."

Bloom suggested that the government's only evidence in the case is the
testimony of Kolar and Phillabaum, who are expected to receive more
lenient sentences in exchange for their cooperation. Waters claimed on the
stand that the two are trying to frame her: Phillabaum because she too had
a relationship with Solondz, and Kolar because Waters spurned her sexual
advances.

Phillabaum and Kolar denied those allegations earlier in the trial, and
while cross examining Waters, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Bartlett
noted that Phillabaum told federal investigators that Waters had obtained
a rental car from a relative for use in the arson.

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The records of Budget Rental Car in Olympia later corroborated
Phillabaum's account: Waters' cousin had rented a vehicle the weekend of
the university fire, and he testified that Waters used it. Soon after, a
$200 cash deposit appeared in his bank account _ the only cash deposit he
made all year, money to reimburse him for the rental car's cost, in the
government's view.

In his questioning, Bartlett suggested that to believe Waters was not
involved, jurors would have to believe that Phillabaum made a "lucky
guess" when she told investigators a story supported by rental car
records.

"I don't know how that would have happened," Waters responded.

Bartlett also pointed to a 1998 New York Times Magazine article about
radical environmentalists which quotes Waters, then a senior at The
Evergreen State University in Olympia, as saying she "totally" supported
arsons "as long as people don't get hurt." Tiffany Tudder, a fellow
student at the time, testified that she remembered Waters making that
statement.

Waters said she could not remember whether she said it or not, but added
that she would be surprised if she did, because she has always opposed
politically motivated arsons.

The defense rested its case Wednesday. Closing arguments were expected by
the end of the week.