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August 14, 1991

EARTH FIRST! CONSPIRACY TRIAL ENDS ABRUPTLY
WITH PLEA BARGAIN

     Most charges were dropped in the sensational Arizona Five Conspiracy 
Trail in Prescott, Arizona on Tuesday, August 13 as the trial resumed after a 
two week recess.  The five defendants agreed to accept lesser charges and 
entered guilty pleas to charges ranging from failure to notify authorities to 
illegal activity to conspiracy.  The charges of conspiring to sabotage nuclear 
facilities were dropped against all defendants as were most of the counts of
property destruction, including damage at Canyon uranium mine and the
transmission towers of the Central Arizona Project.  The sudden halt of the
two month old trial, expected to last into October, shocked courtroom
observers who speculated that the prosecution feared damaging testimony from
Mike Fain, expected to be the next witness, about his unethical conduct.  Fain
is an undercover FBI agent who infiltrated the Prescott community.  He invaded
the defendants lives on a personal level and worked to gain their confidence
over a year and a half, including encouraging and facilitating illegal
activity.  Just before the recess, the court had heard nearly three weeks of
testimony from Ron Frazier, the FBI's paid informer who also worked and lived
closely with the defendants.  His testimony on the stand was rife with reports
of illegal activity, wild fantasies of "Rambo" activity and threats of
violence to people in Prescott.

     The actual charges the five have entered guilty pleas to, which all 
relate to October of '87, are as follows:  Mark Davis pled to malicious 
destruction of property at the Snowbowl ski development.  Marc Baker and Ilse 
Asplund pled to knowledge of and failure to report the Snowbowl incident.
Dave Foreman pled to conspiacy to commit property damage.  It appears the only
act to link Foreman to that date was his handing of two copies of Ecodefense
to FBI informer Ron Frazier.  Acceptance of the conspiracy charge would set a
chilling precedent for first amendment rights.

     Maximum penalties carried for these charges are up to ten years in 
prison, possible restitution and fines up to $250,000 for Davis and Millett 
(minimum five years probation).  Baker and Asplund face prison terms of three 
years, possible restitution and/or fines of up to $250,000.  Foreman faces a
maximum five year sentence with parole after the first year and/or $250,000
fine; minimum is five years probation.  If he receives probation, the judge 
may accept a lesser plea of depredation of property, a misdemeanor, once the 
probationary period is complete.

     It is significant that the governmentdid not even come close to proving 
their grand multi-state nuclear conspiracy charges even though they invested 
well over $2 million of taxpayer money, employed over 100 FBI agents, used 
wiretaps, house bugs and "body wires" to collect nearly 1000 hours of taped 
conversations and have spent well over three years infiltrating Earth First! 
and building their case.  Although their prosecutor Roslyn Moore-Silver said 
at the onset of the trial that theirs was a "simple case" and they would prove 
what they called "terrorist activity," the case has been anything but simple 
and they have certainly not proved their allegations of terrorism.  Moreover, 
as the government paraded their witnesses before the jury, a great deal of 
government misconduct has surfaced.  Testimony for FBI agents and managers 
from Energy Fuels Nuclear's Canyon uranium mine and Rocky Flats Nuclear 
Weapons plant revealed lies, deception, and participation in as well as 
encouragement of illegal activity.  Environmentalists and others in the social 
change movement saw this trial as a chance to bring the methods of FBI 
infiltration and government misconduct out of the darkness of covert activity 
and into the light of public attention.

     An Earth First! activist observing the trial said, "we need to deal with 
their infiltration and propaganda campaign in a public forum rather than 
behind a government shroud that masks their illegal and immoral activity.  The 
fact is Earth First! is responding to a planetary biological crisis of untold 
proportions.  That's what we're doing.  But EF! represents confrontational 
opposition to the power structure, to corporate America.  That is why the FBI 
mounted their campaign.  But how they mounted their campaign is through 
possibly illegal wiretaps and with agents provocateur.  The public needs to 
know that."

     The mood in the courtroom when the plea bargain was announced was 
emotional and charged.  The defendants cried and hugged each other.

     The faces of the FBI agents working on the case lost the steely 
determination they have maintained and showed fatigue.  The prosecutors seemed 
estranged from each other and their approach had lost its vehement edge.

     Earth First! activist Karen Pickett observed, "the fact that they dropped 
most of the charges, particularly the conspiracy charge says something about 
the substance of their case, and the way they have proceeded with this case 
says something about their motives.  They were, and still are, out to 
discredit and disrupt the Earth First!  organization, frame its leaders on 
trumped up charges and, in a nutshell, crush the radical environmental 
movement.  They have not succeeded in doing that.  The FBI disruption has not 
stopped our work against the despoilers and poisoners of the planet.  It has 
not punched a hole in our commitment as they hoped.  But we have to remember 
that this trial is not an isolated incident.  It is the latest and most 
dramatic manifestation of the FBI's campaign against politically progressive 
groups in the U.S."

     Sentencing hearing are set for Sept. 6 for Davis, Millett and Asplund and 
Sept. 9 for Baker.  The date for Foreman's sentencing hearing is not yet set.

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UPDATE   UPDATE    UPDATE    UPDATE

[For immediate release: Sept. 6, 1991]


  Mark Davis Sentenced for Six Years: Sentencing for
Others Delayed


     Mark Davis was sentenced September 6 to six years in prison for his part 
in an act of property damage done at a ski development in a wilderness area of 
northeast Arizona. Judge Robert Broomfield also included restitution of 
$19,821.27 in the sentence.  Observers in the courtroom were stunned by the 
fact that Davis, a first time offender, received the maximum sentence under 
the plea bargain.

     Davis told the judge he was not a terrorist, anarchist or revolutionary 
as the prosecution has maintained, but a father concerned for the future of 
his children, as he sees a world "committing suicide." Explaining his 
motivation for damaging pylons at the Snowbowl Ski Development, he said, 
"(what I did) was an attempt to wake people up to this awful bargain we've 
made."

     Davis expressed that he recognized what he did was against the law, and 
so is willing to accept a prison term as, "the price I have to pay." He told 
Broomfield he felt remorse for careless acts but, "if this helps our species 
survive I can't be sorry."

     Before Davis' statement, his attorney, Wellborn Jack Jr., recognized the 
massive government effort to knock out monkeywrenching as a tactic of the 
radical environmental movement, but reminded the judge that "the book" The 
Monkeywrench Gang is a work of fiction.  Throughout the trial, the prosecuters 
have attempted to painta picture of a grand conspriacy not unlike actions 
portrayed in the book. "But for involvement of the FBI," Jack told the judge, 
"the other counts in the indictment (damage to power poles at Canyon Uranium 
Mine, attemted damage to transmission towers at Central Arizona Project) would 
never need to have been written," referring to the FBI's use of agents 
provacateur.

     EF! activist and trial observer Karen Pickett told the press, "When 
determining whether our system of justice is working, we need to contrast the 
sentence given Mark Davis with those in the corporate world breaking laws that 
result in poisoning of people and extinction of other species. Here we have 
someone who is working with the survival of the planet at heart and those who 
are poisoning our air and water, stripmining our forests and paving over other 
species are not only going unpunished, but making off the carnage. The FBI was 
out to crush the radical environmental movement and they have not. We are more 
committed than ever to the preservation of biological diversity, we just have 
to recognize that we're doing it in the shadow of FBI covert provocation. That 
is an outrage. The FBI is hoping this trial will effectively kill 
monkeywrenching, but they are forgetting that EF!  didn't invent 
monkeywrenching. It's been going on for generations and in fact has roots in 
this country in American Revolution era acts like the Boston Tea Party.  As 
long as some people weild their power in ugly ways, destroying the Earth, 
other people will respond to that."

     Outside the courtroom Welborn Jack told supporters that Mark could serve 
as litle as 15  months of the six year sentence before being sent to a halfway 
house. How much of his sentence he will serve and where he will serve it are 
not immediately known. He is to report to prison on September 23.

     Also outside court, Mark said he "didn't like" striking a deal with the 
government. "I'd rather have gone all the way through the trial. But there 
were other people involved and little children involved."

     The other three Prescott defendents, Peg Millet, Ilse Asplund and Marc 
Baker, will be sentenced on September 20 in Phoenix. Dave Foreman's sentencing 
is deferred for a five year probationary term at which time he may be allowed 
to plead to a lesser charge, a misdemeanor property destruction charge.

     The Legal Offense Fund will remain as support for those of the Arizona 5 
who are in jail. Donations can be sent to: 1385 Iron Springs Rd. Suite 213, 
Prescott, AZ 86301.

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