Seattle: Jennifer Kolar gets 5 years for UW lab arson

See http://www.cldc.org/waters.html for background on Kolar's involvement
in Briana Waters' case.

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http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20080718173258768

Woman gets 5 years for UW lab arson

By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
P-I REPORTER
July 18, 2008

A Seattle woman was sentenced Friday to five years in federal prison, and
five years probation, for participating in an Earth Liberation
Front/Animal Liberation Front rampage of arson that hit targets across the
West.

Jennifer Kolar, 34 -- while part of a notorious ELF/ALF group dubbed the
"Family" -- was one of five people accused in the May 2001 firebombing of
the University of Washington Urban Horticulture Center.

The underground cell torched the lab based on the erroneous belief that
genetic engineering techniques they reviled as dangerous to the
environment were being used there. The building was destroyed along with
precious samples of rare and endangered species of plants being cultivated
for reintroduction into the Cascades.

Kolar also targeted the Cavel West horse meatpacking plant in Redmond,
Ore. in July 1997, a Colorado gun club whose members killed prairie dogs
for sport in October 1998, and a federal wild horse and burro facility in
California where the animals slated to be killed for grazing on federal
land were freed before the facility was set ablaze.

In a plea bargain agreement with the government in October 2006 that set a
sentencing range of five to seven years, Kolar pleaded guilty to
conspiracy to commit arson and make unregistered destructive devices,
attempted arson, arson at both the UW and Cavel West and use of an
incendiary device.

Kolar, who has a master's degree in atmospheric physics, is described by
her attorney, Michael Martin, as "idealistic, bright and stubborn, wanted
to save the world."

Perhaps Kolar's biggest contribution to the ALF/ELF cell was her
prodigious digital skills to train her fellow radicals on how to encrypt
and otherwise hide Internet communications. Federal agents say the
sophistication she provided was a central reason why they eluded detection
for years.

Martin, in a memo to the court, portrayed his client as being drawn into
extreme radicalism because she was "desperate for the attention" of men in
the Earth Liberation/Animal Liberation underground. "She wanted to prove
herself and wanted in some ways to share her skills with these 'friends'
to impress them," he said.

In asking for leniency from U. S. District Judge Franklin Burgess , Kolar
embraced her responsibility to pay more than $7 milllion in restitution
for the destruction of the urban horticulture center. Friday, she turned
to her victims, scientists and staffers from horticulture center who were
in the courtroom, and said:

"I am a scientist. I should have known better... that you were going to
put some information out there that would have made the world a better
place. I see that I hurt the very cause that I thought that I was helping.
I am horribly saddened.

"Not only was it a horrible crime but it was just stupid. I fully accept
responsibility," she said.

Since leaving the radical movement seven years ago, Kolar said,"I have
lived a very productive life." Kolar is now a successful senior software
architect at a firm in Kirkland. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark
Bartlett had asked for seven years behind bars for Kolar -- far below the
federal sentencing guideline range of 235 to 293 months -- because of
Kolar's extensive cooperation with agents and prosecutors in making the
case against her former comrades.

"It is fair to say that it is highly unlikely the U.S. would ever have
solved the mystery of ... the arson at the urban horticulture center
without Ms. Kolar's assistance. She was really the lynchpin in breaking
that case open," Bartlett said.

"In many ways she is an enigma to me that I will never understand,"
Bartlett said, contrasting Kolar's sincere concern for the environment,
against her participation in "heinous crimes that victimized hundreds of
people. You cannot wipe the slate clean as grateful as the U.S. is for her
for her decision to cooperate."

"As a result of her cooperation, Kolar has been demonized by her prior
'friends' in the eco-activist community," the prosecution told Burgess in
their sentencing memorandum. "There is a risk that radical elements ...
might seek retribution against Kolar."

Martin made the same case, saying Kolar has been called a "snitch" and a
"liar." He said that unlike Briana Waters -- who protested her innocence
even as she was sentenced last month to six years in prison for
participating in the Urban Horticulture Center arson -- Kolar has "clearly
accepted responsibility for her actions."

Kolar, who has been free pending sentencing, will be allowed by the judge
to remain free before reporting to the Bureau of Prisons on Sept. 22.

P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072 or
paulshukovsky@seattlepi.com.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/371347_kolar19.html?source=mypi