Eric McDavid is sentenced to 19 years.

Eric McDavid was sentenced to 235 months for "conspiracy to damage or destroy government property by means of fire or explosives." He was convicted in February of 2008 for a crime that was never committed, and which was fabricated by "Anna", a young FBI informant who was paid over $65,000 to entrap him. Now that the sentencing is over, Eric will be able to start the appeals process. Two jurors from the trial wrote declarations about their views that Eric was wrongfully convicted.

Eric will likely be sent to a federal facility in the near future. Although he could be housed farther from his loved ones, his supporters are hopeful that the move will bring many improvements in his overall standard of living. They hope that he will no longer be kept in total separation, that he will have access to more vegan food, that he will be able to spend more time outside and away from his cell. Eric and his family are looking forward to finally having "contact visits" - after almost two and half years of not touching each other at all.

moniker43 said:
Thoughtcrime

moniker43 said:
Eric McDavid

gdarklighter said:

You might want to try an accurate source. The Wikipedia article claims he attended an anarchist convention in July of 2006, despite being arrested and held until trial in January of 2006. This leads me to find the entire article suspect.

moniker43 said:
Yeah, that Wikipedia article is a joke. This is only the final decision of a very prolonged case.

coyotemike said:
I'm finding it very hard to feel sorry for this guy. He went along with a plan that could have resulted in the deaths of many people. Fuck him.

willam9 said:
hunger strike because they wouldn't give him vegan food...? IF he was guilty (still haven't seen a credible source posted), he has no problem with the death of innocent bystanders but he won't eat bread made with eggs...how do you justify that moral compass?

scylis said:

ask PETA?

Eric McDavid, 29, was convicted by a federal jury in March after two co-conspirators, Zachary Jenson and Lauren Weiner, pleaded guilty and cooperated with the government. Weiner is due to be sentenced on May 15 and Jenson on August 7.

...

Federal prosecutors said the three defendants planned to attack targets including the U.S. Forest Service Institute of Forest Genetics, the Nimbus Dam and Fish Hatchery, cellular telephone towers and electric power stations.

As part of the plot, Weiner ordered a book called "Poor Man's James Bond" with recipes and instructions for creating explosive devices, they said.

McDavid, Jenson and Weiner were arrested in January 2006 outside a store in Auburn, California, after buying items to create the explosives, prosecutors said.

Imnutz said:
The minute they began to procure the necessary materials to bring their plans to fruition it automatically switched from thought crime to attempted terrorism. Would you rather the authorities waited until they stared blowing shit up just to make sure they weren't kidding?

gdarklighter said:

The OP's claims of "thoughtcrime" are clearly bullshit. The defendant's claims of entrapment might not be.

moniker43 said:
I personally don't think there has ever been a more clear cut case of entrapment by the FBI. This snitch, Anna, a 17 year old girl, was paid 65,000 dollars to befriend and specifically entrap McDavid, provide him with food, shelter, bomb making materials, plans, and was the primary motivation to build a bomb in the first place.

I would also like to point out that among the hundreds of hours of recorded conversation, the damning statement that McDavid made about innocent bystanders and collateral damage was never recorded, and that his defense claimed up and down that he never said that.

I sincerely doubt he ever said that, even suggested such a thing, or ever believed in that sentiment, even if only for five minutes.

The Eric McDavid Story

A former juror in the case tells of a much different "cautionary tale." One of the dangers of unchecked police powers and kangaroo courts.

In a rare declaration to the court, made even more rare by its candor and unrestrained outrage, Diane Bennett described how she and other jurors were mislead.

"During deliberations, we asked the court to please clarify for the jury the issue of whether Anna was a government agent, and if so, when did she become one... The written answer was from the court and stated "no" that she was not a government agent, yet we were told orally that she was. With the written response of "no," and after reading the other written responses from the court, we ended our consideration of the issue of entrapment, the vote was 7-5 to consider the entrapment issue as a defense. Once the written response advised Anna was not a government agent, we then changed to a guilty verdict soon thereafter."

In other words, in case this is all getting confusing, prosecutors needed to show that McDavid conspired with at least one other person to destroy these government facilities. His codefendants, Jenson and Weiner, testified that there was no conspiracy among the three of them to carry out the illegal actions. That left just McDavid and "Anna," a paid FBI operative. Yet jurors were led to believe that "Anna" wasn't a government agent, and so they convicted him.