Judge Rejects Plea Deal for Animal Activist, Uses "Terror" Rhetoric

by Stephanie Ernst · 2009-11-13 06:12:00 UTC
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Utah is full of unpleasant animal news these days, from the upcoming protest issues mentioned yesterday to the University of Utah undercover laboratory investigation (which we've yet to discuss here) to this: yesterday a U.S. district judge rejected a plea bargain made between the prosecution and a defendant animal rights activist who released several hundred minks last year -- because he believed the plea deal didn't punish the defendant enough for "terrorizing" the man who makes his money terrorizing (no quotation marks) animals.

So what did defendant William Viehl do? Did he try to kill someone? Burn down the owner's house? Hold him hostage at gunpoint? Poison his water supply?  Because you'd think he would have had to do something like that for the judge to insist the fur farmer had been "terrorized." Of course, Viehl did no such things. He and his codefendant released animals and spray-painted a barn. He cost the so-called victim money.

Viehl has no criminal record, and Judge Benson even acknowledged that he's usually lenient in such cases, but he rejected the plea deal because Viehl is an animal rights activist, and it's now business as usual to casually label animal and eco activists as "terrorists," even for nonviolent acts, when they cost animal exploiters money. The U.S. Attorney had agreed to six months for Viehl's release of the minks, but the judge wants him behind bars for a minimum of two years, and possibly up to the maximum of five years. Sentencing will take place on December 11.

Regardless of where anyone stands on various tactics, everyone should be bothered by news such as this, by the constantly growing application of "terror" rhetoric, and in some cases "terror" charges and sentences, to nonviolent actions and activists. Other activists are facing much steeper sentences for nonviolent actions.

On the broader, related topic of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, please visit the Coalition to Abolish the AETA for more information on what you can do to help that effort, including 10 Things You Can Do to Abolish the AETA, and as always, keep checking in with Green Is the New Red to stay on top of Green Scare news in general.

Talk to your U.S. senators and representatives about the issue (see numbers 3 and 4 on the 10 Things list). You can also sign and spread FARM's petition hosted here, if you haven't already, targeting "key members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee, Constitution Subcommittee, House Judiciary Committee, Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee, and the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Subcommittee."

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Photo by Flickr user bloomsberries

Stephanie Ernst wrote the original Animal Rights blog at Change.org until December 2009. She can now be found at Animal Rights & AntiOppression.
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