William Cottrell

Last updated
William "Billy" Cottrell
Born1980 (age 42–43)
Concord, North Carolina, United States
OccupationGraduate research assistant
Criminal statusReleased
Parent(s)William Cottrell and Heidi Schwiebert
Criminal chargeConspiracy to arson
Penalty8 years

William Jensen Cottrell (born 1980) is a former Ph.D. candidate at the California Institute of Technology who was convicted in April 2005 of conspiracy associated with the destruction of eight sport utility vehicles and a Hummer dealership in the name of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). He was sentenced to eight years in federal prison on conspiracy charges and ordered to pay $3.5 million in restitution. He was released August 16, 2011.

Contents

Early life

Cottrell graduated from the University of Chicago in 2002 as a double major in physics and mathematics. [1] He also competed on the school's Division III cross country team, where he was often called the "team genius". [1] After graduating, he was accepted to the graduate physics program at Caltech, where he would meet Tyler Johnson, who was also studying physics and finishing up his undergraduate work. [2]

Summer 2003 and SUV arsons

In August 2003, Cottrell and Tyler Johnson developed a plan to place bumper stickers on SUVs reading "SUV = TERRORISM." [3] In a series of emails that were later recovered by the FBI, Cottrell attempted to recruit friends to help him purchase the bumper stickers, and organised arson attacks on a series of Hummer dealers.[ citation needed ]

Trial

He was arrested in March 2004 after law enforcement tracked him sending emails to the Los Angeles Times. The e-mails signed by "Tony Marsden" speak about what the ELF cell had done, vandalizing more than 130 SUVs parked at dealerships or residential homes, claiming they were damaging the environment. [4] He was charged with conspiracy to commit arson, arson, and one count of using a destructive device during a crime of violence, in an October 24, 2004 Federal grand jury indictment.[ citation needed ] Cottrell's lawyers stated that he was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. [5] However, Judge Gary Klausner would not allow a defense based upon the claim that Cottrell had Asperger syndrome. [5]

At his trial, Cottrell admitted being present, but denied involvement in throwing Molotov cocktails, saying Johnson was the mastermind.

An informal network of Cottrell supporters formed, led by the Earth Liberation Front Prisoner's Network and the Free Billy Cottrell organization. These supporters claimed that Cottrell was the innocent victim of government persecution. However, when Cottrell named Johnson as the mastermind, it prompted his Free Billy Cottrell supporters to brand him as a traitor, issue an apology to those who supported Cottrell, [6] [7] and end all support. [8]

Imprisonment

An article in the LA Weekly reports that Billy was being mistreated by prison guards who have labeled him a "terrorist". According to the article, he is not permitted to study physics or Mandarin Chinese, is not permitted to teach the other prisoners calculus, and had had his books and papers removed without being given a reason. [3]

A letter in Cottrell's defense, signed by Stephen Hawking and other prominent scientists, was distributed to prison authorities and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals at Cottrell's October 18, 2006 hearing. [3] He was then transferred into another federal prison with less violent prisoners. [9] Cottrell was then able to study subjects that he was denied at the last prison and no longer had a roommate. [10]

Documentary film

A documentary film on Cottrell, titled Standard Deviation, was written and directed by David Randag and Chris Brannan in 2008. [11] In 2009, it won the Emmy for best student documentary at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation's 30th College Television Awards. [12]

Decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit

On 8 September 2009, Cottrell's convictions and sentences for arson were overturned by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. [13] [14] However, the conspiracy conviction and sentence were affirmed. The omission of Cottrell's diagnosis of Asperger syndrome during his 2004 trial played a key role in the decision. Cottrell was released on August 16, 2011. After his release from prison he completed his Ph.D. in theoretical and mathematical physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and postdoctorate research at the University of Amsterdam and Stanford University.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

Eco-terrorism is an act of violence which is committed in support of environmental causes, against people or property.

Ecotage is sabotage carried out for environmental reasons.

Jeffrey "Free" Luers is an American political activist from Los Angeles, California, who served a ten-year prison sentence for an arson motivated by environmental concerns. On February 14, 2007, the Oregon Court of Appeals overturned Luers' sentence, instructing the Lane County circuit court to determine a new sentence. That court reduced the sentence from 22 years, 8 months to 10 years in February 2008, after what The Independent described as an "international campaign for a more appropriate sentence for a crime in which no one was hurt."

Tre Arrow is a green anarchist who gained prominence in the U.S. state of Oregon in the late 1990s and early 2000s for his environmental activism, bid for Congress as a Pacific Green Party candidate, and then for his arrest and later conviction for committing acts of arson on cement and logging trucks. He unsuccessfully sought political asylum in Canada, and was extradited to Portland, Oregon, on February 29, 2008, to face 14 counts of arson and conspiracy. These actions were claimed as acts of protest by the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). On June 3, 2008, Arrow pleaded guilty to 2 counts of arson and was sentenced with 78 months in prison. He was released to a halfway house in 2009.

The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) has taken a variety of criminal actions since 1992. Actions were rarely publicised prior to 1996 and are therefore difficult to find.

Operation Backfire is a multi-agency criminal investigation, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), into destructive acts in the name of animal rights and environmental causes in the United States described as eco-terrorism by the FBI. The operation resulted in convictions and imprisonment of a number of people, many of whom were members of the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Scare</span> US government action against the radical environmental movement

The Green Scare is legal action by the US government against the radical environmental movement, that occurred mostly in the 2000s. It alludes to the Red Scares, periods of fear over communist infiltration of US society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin</span> U.S. federal prison

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William Courtney Rodgers, also known as Bill Rodgers and Avalon, was an environmental activist, animal rights activist and a co-proprietor of the Catalyst Infoshop in Prescott, Arizona, US. He was one of six environmental activists arrested December 7, 2005 as part of the FBI's Operation Backfire. His charge was one count of arson for a June 1998 fire set by the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) at the National Wildlife Research Center in Olympia, Washington. He was found dead in his jail cell on December 21, 2005. According to police, Rodgers committed suicide using a plastic bag.

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Daniel Gerard McGowan is an American environmental activist, formerly associated with the Earth Liberation Front. The U.S. government considers him a domestic terrorist, having been arrested and charged in federal court on multiple counts of arson and conspiracy, relating to the arson of Superior Lumber company in Glendale, Oregon, on January 2, 2001, and Jefferson Poplar Farms in Clatskanie, Oregon, on May 21, 2001. His arrest is part of what the FBI dubbed Operation Backfire.

Eric McDavid is an American green anarchist who was convicted of conspiring to use fire or explosives to damage corporate and government property and sentenced to 20 years in prison. While U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott has called McDavid the first person in the U.S. to be prosecuted on Earth Liberation Front (ELF)-related charges, the trial revealed that McDavid's group had not decided whether or not to claim the planned actions in the name of the ELF. On January 8, 2015, after he spent eight years and 360 days in prison, McDavid's conviction was overturned after the prosecution conceded that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had withheld thousands of pages of potentially exculpatory evidence.

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The Earth Liberation Front (ELF), also known as "Elves" or "The Elves", is the collective name for autonomous individuals or covert cells who, according to the ELF Press Office, use "economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment".

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The University of Washington firebombing incident was an arson which took place in the early morning hours of May 21, 2001 when a firebomb was set off at Merrill Hall, a part of the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture, causing an estimated $1.5 to $4.1 million in damages. By 2012 four of five accused conspirators behind the attack admitted their guilt in plea bargains. A fifth committed suicide in federal detention while awaiting trial.

"Scorched" is the 11th episode of the second season of the American television series Numbers. Marking the first produced script for series writer Sean Crouch, the episode features Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and mathematicians investigating a series of arsons that may have been started by an ecoterrorist group. Bill Nye "The Science Guy", who is a fan of the show, guest stars as a colleague of scientists Dr. Charlie Eppes and Dr. Larry Fleinhardt.

The innocent prisoner's dilemma, or parole deal, is a detrimental effect of a legal system in which admission of guilt can result in reduced sentences or early parole. When an innocent person is wrongly convicted of a crime, legal systems which need the individual to admit guilt — as, for example, a prerequisite step leading to parole — punish an innocent person for their integrity, and reward a person lacking in integrity. There have been cases where innocent prisoners were given the choice between freedom, in exchange for claiming guilt, and remaining imprisoned and telling the truth. Individuals have died in prison rather than admit to crimes that they did not commit.

Tom Hayes is a former trader for UBS and Citigroup who was sentenced to 14 years in prison for dishonestly manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) as part of the Libor scandal. Hayes, in the course of his defence, asserted managers were aware of his actions, and even condoned them. At trial Hayes was diagnosed with mild Asperger syndrome.

References

  1. 1 2 "U of C prodigy imprisoned for eco-terror crime". www.chicagomaroon.com. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  2. ↑ "Burned". April 10, 2005. Archived from the original on January 7, 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 Lewis, Judith (February 28, 2007). "A terrible thing to waste". Archived from the original on March 4, 2007.
  4. ↑ "Earth Liberation Front suspect charged in California SUV arson, vandalism raids". Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise. March 18, 2004. Archived from the original on April 2, 2004.
  5. 1 2 "Billy Cottrell - Innocent, Guilty or Duped?". Aspires-relationships.com. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
  6. ↑ "Infoshop News - your 24/7 source for news, opinion and information". www.infoshop.org. Archived from the original on 2007-03-12.
  7. ↑ "Cottrell convicted". Archived from the original on 2004-12-04.
  8. ↑ "Animal Crackers: William Cottrell: An Unremorseful Soul on the Eve of Sentencing". Brianoconnor.typepad.com. 2005-04-11. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
  9. ↑ "The US addiction to oil: The battered Hummer that symbolises a divided nation - Climate Change, Environment - The Independent". Independent.co.uk . 3 May 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-05-03. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  10. ↑ "Physicists campaign to free a jailed ecoterrorist's mind". Tmcnet.com. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
  11. ↑ "Standard Deviation". Standarddeviation-themovie.com. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
  12. ↑ "Academy of Television Arts & Sciences". Archived from the original on 2009-03-26.
  13. ↑ Court document uscourts.gov 2009
  14. ↑ "Caltech student's arson convictions are overturned in SUV bombings; sentence is vacated by appeals court". Los Angeles Times. 2009-09-10. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
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