Briana Waters Found Guilty on Two Counts

Tacoma Jury Convicts Woman of Arson; Hangs on Other Counts

author: Civil Rights Outreach Committee

For immediate Release: March 6, 2008
Contacts: Kassey Baker, 360-561-5261
Lauren Regan, Atty, Civil Liberties Defense Center, 541-687-9180

Tacoma Jury Convicts Woman of Arson; Hangs on Other Counts

Tacoma, WA - A federal jury was unable to reach a decision on conspiracy and transportation of a destructive device but convicted Briana Waters, a 32-year-old mother and violin teacher and former resident of Olympia of arson. The government charged her with being a lookout in connection with the May, 2001 arson of the Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington in Seattle. If convicted on all counts, Waters would have faced a sentence of 35 years. The two informants who testified against her in the case, who admitted to participating in the arson, face between three and seven years. Ms. Waters' sentencing is set for May 30.

Without any physical evidence linking Ms. Waters directly to the arson, the government built its case on the testimony of the two informants, and a number of pieces of circumstantial evidence. The defense argued that the informants falsely accused Waters in order to avoid 35-year prison sentences themselves, and that their testimony was demonstrably false.

Among the pieces of circumstantial evidence introduced by the government was a folder with a note on the cover from Waters to one of the informants, Jennifer Kolar, containing various radical pamphlets and publications. Prosecutors highlighted the most sensationalist passages in the articles, and sought to ascribe these views to Ms. Waters. Waters testified that she did not write the materials, did not agree with them, and did not pass them to Kolar. The defense argued that the informant must have substituted other articles for the ones that Waters actually put in the folder. While Waters' fingerprints were on the folder, they were not on any of the articles. The government countered that Waters' boyfriend's fingerprints were on the articles, and that he is a "fugitive" suspected of one or more arsons. The defense pointed out that the boyfriend is not on trial.

"The government's case was primarily based on character assassination and guilt by association," said civil rights attorney Ben Rosenfeld, a member of the Board of Directors of the Civil Liberties Defense Center. "Evidence of other people's writings never should never have been allowed to be used against her."

Briana Waters has maintained her innocence to all the charges. An appeal is likely.

This trial is another chapter in the federal government's "Operation Backfire," also dubbed the "Green Scare," in which the government has hounded the environmental activist community, overcharged a number of individuals with a federal firearms enhancement applying to bombs and missiles, and branded them as terrorists, even though none of the events resulted in a single injury.

Central to the jury's consideration of two of the charges against Ms. Waters was the question whether she was responsible for helping to build or transport explosive devices. The jury deadlocked on these charges. During the first stages of the investigation of the "Street of Dreams" fires in a housing development in Snohomish County, WA, officials falsely reported that explosive devices were found. Later, BATF Spokesman Kelvin Crenshaw made that no such devices were found. "It is inconceivable that officials could have made such a mistake. It raises the question of deliberate jury tampering by the government, and also calls into question the reliability of the government's information in general," said Rosenfeld.

Briana Waters has steadfastly maintained her innocence.
Copies of a press packet with current related articles and background information are available from civilrightsoutreach(at)gmail.com. For more information, go to www.cldc.org.

Briana Waters Trial Update (March 4)

The jury is still deliberating on her case. There is no way to know when a verdict will be reached...

As of Tuesday night we are still awaiting a verdict from the jury, and also woke up Monday morning to the disturbing accounts in the media about an arson up in Snohomish county, that the corporate media have already decided was perpetrated by the ELF... Though the judge was asked Monday morning to interview the jurors individually to find out if they had seen anything on the news about it, he sided again with the prosecution and instead told them there had been a news story that morning that might influence their deliberations, and he issued a rather bland pronouncement to the jury to tell him if they thought they couldn't make a fair ruling in the case. When no one spoke up, he sent them back to keep deliberating. Without any idea for sure if any of the jurors had been tainted by the news that morning, but a fair assumption that at least some of them had, the defense was forced to motion for a mistrial again, which was denied. At the end of the day Judge Burgess granted a defense request and instructed the jury not to watch any TV, listen to the radio, or view any other news source, as it would be virtually impossible to prevent some of the news from "jumping out and catching them".

One thing that is certain to those close to the case is that the arson Monday has only damaged Briana's chances of getting a fair verdict. The corporate media have consistently pointed out how curious the timing of the arson is, with the "UW Ecoterror Trial" still going on, further linking Briana with a shadowy ELF underground in the minds of the public. Anyone should have been able to predict the negative impact of an action like this on Briana's trial, and that just makes this whole event even more frustrating.

There are many reasons to view this fire and it's motivations as suspicious, and there is not yet any evidence that it was actually based on environmental motivations. The vast majority of arsons in this country are caused for run-of-the-mill reasons, and fraud or financial reasons are some of the biggest. The media seem all too happy to jump to conclusions about the people who started those fires based on the most preliminary investigations. Also there have often actions by agent provocateurs during political trials throughout history.

Anyway, we will continue to keep everyone informed about events as they come up.

Thanks everyone for your support!

Meeting Tonight at Free School 7-8:30 PM

Olympia Civil Liberties Resource will hold a public meeting tonight at the Olympia Free School, 610 Columbia St. South, (across from Olympia Supply Hardware). March Meetings will be from 7-8:30 PM except on the 9th, which is scheduled for 4-6:30 PM due to another event that evening.

We are currently working on supporting Briana Waters throughout her trial, getting the word out about her trial and its implications to civil liberties for activists and everyone. Arguments are completed in this trial and the jury is in deliberation. Jury will reconvene Monday morning, and a verdict could come at any time after that.

If you want to support Briana or are just interested in learning more about this trial and its implications, you are welcome to attend.