{"id":8387,"date":"2012-12-24T05:20:20","date_gmt":"2012-12-24T12:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/?p=8387"},"modified":"2012-12-26T14:00:02","modified_gmt":"2012-12-26T21:00:02","slug":"entrapment-how-our-youth-are-criminalized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/entrapment-how-our-youth-are-criminalized\/","title":{"rendered":"Entr(a)pment: How our Youth are Criminalized"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Men cry, &#8220;Peace, Peace!&#8221;, but there IS no &#8216;peace&#8217;. Is peace so sweet and life so dear that we would purchase it at ANY cost?&#8211;I know not what course others may take, but as for me, Give me Liberty&#8230;or give me Death!&#8221; \u00a0<\/em>-Patrick Henry-<\/p>\n<p>The following article is reposted from the <strong>Sacramento News &amp; Review<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<h1>Conspir(a)cy of Dunces<\/h1>\n<div>Three would-be eco-terrorists were arrested in Auburn last January (2006) for plotting acts of sabotage for the Earth Liberation Front. But would there have been a conspiracy without the prodding of FBI infiltrator Anna?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>This article was published on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsreview.com\/sacramento\/2006-07-27\/archive\"><time itemprop=\"dtreviewed\" datetime=\"2006-07-27\">07.27.06<\/time><\/a>.<\/div>\n<div id=\"storyBody\">\n<table width=\"300\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.newsreview.com\/imager\/conspiracy-of-dunces\/b\/original\/80311\/9262\/cover-19776.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The arrest of three alleged eco-terrorists on January 13 was thanks to the work of a mysterious FBI informant who went by the name of Anna.<\/p>\n<div>ILLUSTRATION BY\u00a0GIA-BAO TRAN<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<div id=\"details-wrapper\">\n<div id=\"content-ad-placement\"><small><br \/>\n<\/small><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"spacer\" src=\"http:\/\/www.newsreview.com\/images\/spacer.gif\" height=\"10\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><b>On the morning of January 13,\u00a0<\/b>the FBI was keeping a close eye on a cabin in Dutch Flat, about a half-hour north of Auburn. The government had the cabin and its four occupants\u2014two men and two women\u2014under 24-hour surveillance for nearly a week because the group was suspected of plotting acts of domestic terrorism in the name of the Earth Liberation Front.<\/p>\n<p>The four left the cabin at around 10 a.m. in a 1997 maroon Chevy Lumina and traveled about 30 miles to a Kmart in Auburn. There were agents inside the store, watching them shop.<\/p>\n<p>Agents outside watched the parking lot, too, as one of the men, 28-year-old Eric McDavid\u2014tall and athletic, who wore his red hair short under a baseball cap\u2014returned to the car with his companion, Anna, a pretty, dark-haired woman in her mid-20s. Inside, 20-year-old Lauren Weiner and 20-year-old Zachary Jenson continued to shop, stopping a clerk to inquire about Pyrex cookware. All the while, agents watched and waited.<\/p>\n<p>Once all four reassembled in the parking lot, carrying bags full of household cleaning supplies and a Pyrex bowl\u2014bomb-making materials, according to the government\u2014members of the FBI, the SWAT team and the Joint Terrorism Task Force moved in.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t a violent takedown.<\/p>\n<p>Three from the group were quietly handcuffed and loaded into patrol cars. Their shopping bags were inspected, quickly inventoried and loaded into the trunk of another. All but Anna were taken to the Sacramento County Jail and then charged with conspiracy to commit arson. The government alleged that the conspiracy was part of a planned terrorist bombing campaign targeting power stations in San Francisco, a forest-genetics research lab in Placerville and even the Nimbus Dam.<\/p>\n<p>The three never saw Anna again. She had befriended them, brought them together, paid the rent on the Dutch Flat cabin and encouraged them every step of the way. She had been an FBI informant all along.<\/p>\n<p>According to a report from FBI agents, Jenson muttered, \u201cFriday the 13th, what a day,\u201d from the back of the squad car as they drove away to jail.<\/p>\n<p><b>The green scare<\/b><br \/>\nThe arrest of the three would-be eco-terrorists was part of a larger crackdown on what the government considers one of the most fearsome domestic terrorist organizations in the United States: the Earth Liberation Front.<\/p>\n<p>That same month, with great fanfare, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrests of 17 alleged members of ELF, charged with 65 counts of arson and conspiracy. That investigation was called Operation Backfire.<\/p>\n<p>But critics, like the National Lawyers Guild, call Operation Backfire and other investigations and arrests of eco-radicals the \u201cgreen scare\u201d and a misuse of resources to fight terrorism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe indictment tells a story of four-and-a-half years of arson, vandalism, violence and destruction claimed to have been executed on behalf of the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front\u2014extremist movements known to support acts of domestic terrorism,\u201d said Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the press conference announcing the results of Operation Backfire, on January 20, just a week after the arrests of Weiner, McDavid and Jenson.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInvestigating and preventing animal-rights and environmental extremism is one of the FBI\u2019s highest domestic-terrorism priorities,\u201d said FBI Director Robert Mueller at the same press conference.<\/p>\n<p>That quote was widely reprinted in newspapers all over the country. Here\u2019s another, which didn\u2019t \u00a0make it into most media accounts: \u201cThe FBI becomes involved, as it did in this case, only when volatile talk crosses the line into violence and criminal activity,\u201d Mueller also said.<\/p>\n<p>Keep that in mind as you read further. The government says that its confidential source, Anna, foiled the plot cooked up by McDavid, Jenson and Weiner. But court documents suggest that it took a lot of care and feeding, encouragement and money from the FBI informant, Anna, to get this particular conspiracy to hatch.<\/p>\n<p>In May, Weiner agreed to plead guilty. She faces a maximum of five years in prison and is free on bail, living with her family in New York.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, after more than six months in the Sacramento County Jail, Jenson also agreed to a plea bargain, and to testify against McDavid. He\u2019s been released on bail and is scheduled to be sentenced in early October.<\/p>\n<p>That leaves McDavid left to stand trial. He\u2019s the oldest, and the one prosecutors say was the real leader behind the plot. He was also the one who was closest to Anna, the FBI informant who stuck with McDavid for a year-and-a-half, asking him questions, making suggestions and acting as if she were his lieutenant while reporting on his every move to the FBI. According to testimony from Sacramento-based FBI Special Agent Nasson Walker, she got paid at least $75,000 for her work.<\/p>\n<p>The defendants\u2019 lawyers say that there could have been no conspiracy at all without Anna. Documents from the investigation reviewed by SN&amp;R suggest that Anna provided much of the financial support, the encouragement and the know-how needed to turn their talk into action. They also show that whenever the group started to lose focus, or to have second thoughts, Anna badgered them about being all talk and not sticking to an action plan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was the glue,\u201d said defense attorney Mark Reichel, who represents McDavid. \u201cTake away Anna, and they would have scattered in the wind like so many tumbleweeds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>Anna the anarchist<\/b><br \/>\nELF, and its sister group, ALF, the Animal Liberation Front, has been a tough organization for the FBI to crack\u2014mostly because, as U.S. Attorney Steven Lapham notes, \u201cit\u2019s not an organization.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not an organization in the sense that a criminal gang, or the Mafia, or a group like Al Qaeda is an organization. Federal law enforcement works against these groups in large part by arresting the foot soldiers and prying information out of them about the higher-ups. With perseverance, and enough underlings flipping on their bosses, you\u2019ve got a shot at decapitating the organization.<\/p>\n<p>Not so with ELF. These folks are, after all, anarchists who believe in an anti-authoritarian way of organizing society. Nobody pays membership dues; there are no bosses or foot soldiers. They carry out their actions, from simple tagging and vandalism to firebombings causing millions of dollars\u2019 worth of damage, under the banner of ELF. They have been credited with $110 million in property damage to date, from car dealerships to ski resorts since 1997. Though the government considers ELF one of the most important domestic terror groups in the nation, if not the most important, so far, nobody has died as a result of an ELF action.<\/p>\n<p>Lapham prosecuted the ELF firebombing of a UC Davis veterinary clinic in 1987. He also prosecuted the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, in 1998 and members of the San Joaquin County Militia for conspiring to blow up two large propane tanks in Elk Grove\u2014in order to start the second American Revolution\u2014in 2002. And he\u2019s the lead prosecutor against McDavid, Weiner and Jenson.<\/p>\n<table width=\"300\" border=\"0\" align=\"left\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.newsreview.com\/imager\/conspiracy-of-dunces\/b\/original\/80311\/75bf\/cover-19776.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Anna pushed the others constantly to stick to the plan. She told them she liked the idea of taking out the Nimbus Dam.<\/p>\n<div>ILLUSTRATION BY\u00a0GIA-BAO TRAN<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>He claims ELF is a serious threat. \u201cThese people are committed to a cause, a cause that has as its tenets property destruction and violence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cracking ELF requires a special approach. And that\u2019s where someone like Anna comes in.<\/p>\n<p>In an affidavit filed in the case, FBI Special Agent Walker said that the \u201cconfidential source\u201d (the government never refers to Anna by name; it\u2019s always the \u201csource\u201d) had been used in at least 12 prior investigations of anarchists and anarchist groups. \u201cHer information has proved accurate and reliable,\u201d Walker said, and she was \u201cgranted authority to participate in Tier 1 Otherwise Illegal Activity\u201d as part of the investigation. Tier 1 means investigations of the most dangerous criminals: terrorists. OIA means just that. Anna was allowed to break the law in order to get her collar.<\/p>\n<p>McDavid first encountered Anna in Iowa in 2004, at an anarchist convention called CrimethInc. He was already friends with Jenson, who also went to Iowa that time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe showed up with this pink hair and camo miniskirt. I guess she was pretty cute,\u201d said Reichel.<\/p>\n<p>According to Reichel, Anna and McDavid never slept together, but there was romantic tension between the two over the next year-and-a-half. \u201cThey argued like a couple. Everyone around them assumed they were sleeping together. She definitely had my boy after her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The two would see each other again about a year after the Iowa convention. In the meantime, it seems, Anna had work to do in southern Florida.<\/p>\n<p>According to accounts of organizers of a protest against the Organization of American States in June 2005, Anna showed up in the Miami area, posing as an activist and volunteer medic.<\/p>\n<p>Miami organizer Ray Del Papa said he believes the FBI was monitoring organizers of the demonstrations, even though they were legal, permitted and not intended to include any civil disobedience or \u201cdirect action.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was on the phone one day, complaining to someone that we only had one volunteer medic,\u201d Del Papa explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the phones were tapped, because the next day, this woman Anna shows up, with short blond hair, in these leather pants, with a medic bag.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Del Papa said Anna didn\u2019t seem very interested in offering medical care and comfort to protesters. She was more curious about the protest organizers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe started asking all of these really specific questions about who was coming and how many people were coming. She got really aggressive about wanting detailed information about our plans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During the march, Del Papa said, Anna started recruiting high-school students to stage a sit-in to block traffic, right in front of a large group of Broward County sheriff\u2019s officers in riot gear. Del Papa was sure the provocation would lead to arrests and to the police clearing protesters from the area around the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center where the protest was being held. \u201cIt was a trap,\u201d Del Papa told SN&amp;R. That\u2019s when Del Papa was sure that Anna was a government agent. Not that it\u2019s uncommon for political demonstrations and meetings to have an undercover agent or two in their midst.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat bothers me is that they\u2019ve gone from being information gatherers to being provocateurs. To provoking people into these actions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mark Reichel went to Miami to check it out. He brought a photo of the Miami Anna, taken by organizers there, back to his client in the Sacramento jail. It was the same Anna, McDavid told him.<\/p>\n<p><b>Reeling them in<\/b><br \/>\nIn late June, Anna left Miami and headed for Philadelphia and the BIO 2005 conference, where many activist groups, including some anarchists, were gathering to protest the biotech industry.<\/p>\n<p>Anna\u2019s real contact with McDavid, Weiner and Jenson started with meetings in a Philadelphia coffee shop. It was there that McDavid told Anna of his interest in \u201cdirect action.\u201d It was there also that McDavid first mentioned the \u201cPlacerville tree factory.\u201d He was vague on the details, but he knew that \u201cthey genetically modify trees there.\u201d The \u201ctree factory\u201d turned out to be the Institute of Forest Genetics\u2014one of the alleged targets in the conspiracy.<\/p>\n<p>According to the government\u2019s complaint, the four agreed to meet again in the fall in Northern California. After Philadelphia, McDavid went back to the Auburn area. Weiner stayed in Philadelphia, and Jenson roamed around a bit, sleeping on couches in D.C., Oregon and San Francisco.<\/p>\n<p>Getting the three anarchists together must have been something like herding cats for Anna. E-mail records and other notes from the investigation show that Anna was the one trying to keep the others on a time schedule.<\/p>\n<p>Anna bought Weiner\u2019s plane tickets to California, said Reichel. Later, in audio transcripts of a conversation between the two women, Anna asked Weiner, \u201cYou\u2019re going to pay me back for those plane tickets, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey needed money to survive. They had no money at all. They were \u2018freegans,\u2019\u201d said Reichel.<\/p>\n<p>In November, the four met at McDavid\u2019s parents\u2019 house in Foresthill, where, according to the government, they discussed carrying out some sort of \u201cdirect action\u201d in the name of ELF. They ate stir-fried shrimp and vegan pancakes. They hiked and read. They also discussed a recipe that involved crystals created by mixing and heating ammonia and bleach. Those crystals, McDavid believed, then could be mixed with \u201cplumber\u2019s putty\u201d to create an explosive akin to C4. According to the FBI, McDavid acknowledged that they were involved in a criminal conspiracy.<\/p>\n<p>After the fall meeting, Anna wrote numerous e-mails trying to coordinate the group\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n<p>She urged Jenson to help convince Weiner to come back to California, saying, \u201cYou should help me work on ff.\u201d (FF stands for Firefly, a nickname of Weiner\u2019s.) In another e-mail, she wrote, \u201c[Weiner] wants to push off Cali till later. I told her that\u2019s bullshit. Argh.\u201d<\/p>\n<table width=\"300\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.newsreview.com\/imager\/conspiracy-of-dunces\/b\/original\/80311\/cae9\/cover-19776.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The alleged conspirators never did manage to create any explosive material\u2014despite Anna\u2019s help.<\/p>\n<div>ILLUSTRATION BY\u00a0GIA-BAO TRAN<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>During this time, according to FBI notes included in evidence, in December, Weiner purchased a copy of the book\u00a0<i>The Poor Man\u2019s James Bond<\/i>\u2014containing recipes and instructions for various makeshift explosives and do-it-yourself weapons\u2014from an anarchist bookstore in Philadelphia. Reichel said that earlier, Anna had told the group that she had worked as a high-school chemistry teacher.<\/p>\n<p>On December 10, 2005, Anna gave McDavid the recipe for potassium chlorate in an e-mail that she had encoded with a simple letter-shift code (A equals G, B equals H, etc). The e-mail starts, \u201cI think this is what you meant at your house. If you want the rest, tell me \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was really unsophisticated,\u201d Reichel said. \u201cI think she was trying to think of something that could possibly yield something and was simple enough to do in the backyard for three idiots.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At first, McDavid didn\u2019t get it. He thickly replied, \u201cDid you see what you sent me? You need to lay off the caffeeen cheeka.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Anna replied, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you think a little broader about what I sent you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t take it so hard\/or me so seriously cheeka,\u201d he wrote back.<\/p>\n<p>Later, Anna wrote to Jenson complaining about McDavid. \u201cTell the Pirate [McDavid\u2019s nickname] I\u2019m sorry I snapped. I worked really hard on that e-mail, it seemed like he just laughed it off.\u201d She asked Jenson to write to McDavid and give him the key to decoding the message. \u201cTell him to subtract six,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n<p>She and McDavid smoothed things over, because two days later she wrote, \u201cI\u2019m just glad were talking again. Talk to me more. I miss you and am counting down the days.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>Cabin fever<\/b><br \/>\nBefore the others arrived back in Northern California, Anna had rented the cabin in Dutch Flat, which she described in one e-mail as \u201ca place that\u2019s totally under the table, secure, hidden, but not too hidden that we look like Ted Kazynciski [sic].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The group would stay in the cabin for less than a week\u2014from January 8 to January 13\u2014unaware that there was a hidden video camera already set up beside the television and an FBI surveillance team set up outside videotaping and recording what was happening inside.<\/p>\n<p>FBI agent Walker confirmed during the bail hearing of Weiner that Anna rented the cabin and may have helped buy some of the materials for making the potassium chlorate that the four agreed to test while at Dutch Flat.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the surveillance of the cabin captured the mundane details of the lives of four young people on vacation. There are reports of the four traveling to a pizza restaurant, buying pizza, returning to the cabin and eating pizza. They discussed music. Weiner enjoys Jimi Hendrix and Jello Biafra. Anna likes Beyonc\u00e9 and Destiny\u2019s Child. The other three never seemed to realize that Anna was an informant, even when she used a heavy hand to guide their conversations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll right, what do we wanna do next? Do we want to go back to Auburn and recon banks and gas stations?\u201d she asked at one point on the tape. \u201cYou guys change your mind a lot,\u201d she offered later. Then, later still, \u201cIt seems like you guys don\u2019t want to do it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On January 10, the four toured the Institute of Forest Genetics in Placerville, using fake names and posing as college students for a tour. They were under surveillance the whole time by FBI agents and agents of the U.S. Forest Service.<\/p>\n<p>The government says in its complaint that McDavid said that he felt human casualties would be acceptable in an action against the IFG. But McDavid denies that he ever said that. \u201cWe\u2019ve asked them to show us where on the tapes he said that. They can\u2019t find it because he never said that,\u201d Reichel insisted.<\/p>\n<p>On January 11, there\u2019s a report that Anna \u201cgoes outside\u201d to meet an agent. Not into town, not down the road\u2014she just \u201cgoes outside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know. I know. How did they not realize?\u201d Reichel said, laughing. \u201cThese are not the most sophisticated people. This is not the Symbionese Liberation Army.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On January 11, Anna drove the other three in her Chevy Lumina to Wal-Mart in Natomas, where the group bought the items needed to make the explosives from Anna\u2019s recipe.<\/p>\n<p>McDavid and Weiner tried to cook bleach and other chemicals down to create crystals of potassium chlorate, in full view of the FBI surveillance team outside. But the glass container they were using became too hot and broke, spilling its contents on the ground. The two would-be guerrillas had nothing to show for their troubles but rattled nerves and a puddle of warm bleach.<\/p>\n<p>On January 12, cabin fever set in. The audio transcripts contain a long and convoluted discussion that evening involving all four members of the group. The transcripts reveal a lot of disagreement and doubt.<\/p>\n<p>At this point, the IFG facility was out, at least for the time being, partly because, even after its tour, the group still wasn\u2019t quite sure what the scientists there did. McDavid suggested the IFG could be a fallback plan.<\/p>\n<p>The Nimbus Dam was out; Weiner didn\u2019t like the idea of creating another New Orleans. \u201cWhy would we want to create that?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019ll kill people and take out people\u2019s homes,\u201d Jenson agreed.<\/p>\n<p>The four moved on to a discussion of blowing up buildings, banks and ATMs. Jenson liked the idea of targeting power stations to cause power outages. Anna asked him, \u201cSo you\u2019ll study power grids?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McDavid threw in, \u201cI think smaller stuff, right now.\u201d Jenson added, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t need to be done, like, now, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<table width=\"300\" border=\"0\" align=\"left\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.newsreview.com\/imager\/conspiracy-of-dunces\/b\/original\/80311\/b6fd\/cover-19776.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Eric McDavid\u2019s attorney, Mark Reichel, says the government is \u201cmanufacturing crime.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>ILLUSTRATION BY\u00a0GIA-BAO TRAN<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Anna pressed them. \u201cI thought we were going to do the tree factory because it was easy,\u201d she complained. Weiner replied, \u201cBut it\u2019s not,\u201d and the two guys agreed. McDavid apologized for his waffling. \u201cI don\u2019t want to hurt anybody\u2019s feelings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>During the conversation, McDavid asked Anna what was wrong. \u201cBig shuffle a little too big for you?\u201d Anna replied, \u201cI\u2019m just sad we lost the Forest Service one.\u201d It\u2019s not lost, Weiner answered. \u201cIt\u2019s not going anywhere,\u201d McDavid added.<\/p>\n<p>But Anna was getting frustrated. \u201cI guess I\u2019m just different than you guys. I don\u2019t like amorphous crap. \u2026 I wish one day we could keep the damned plan. I wish one day you guys could stick to a list. Why can\u2019t one of you guys say, \u2018Hey, this is what we want\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here, Reichel said, Anna sensed that the conspiracy was falling apart, and she began trying hard to get them to make statements about specific targets. \u201cYeah, I would like a damned goal,\u201d she pleaded with the others.<\/p>\n<p>The four agreed that they needed to purchase more supplies to keep experimenting with the explosive. \u201cBut at that point, it\u2019s over,\u201d said Reichel. \u201cThe whole thing had peaked,\u201d and the conspirators were going to break up and leave Dutch Flat. But then Friday the 13th happened.<\/p>\n<p><b>Terrorists or knuckleheads?\u00a0<\/b><br \/>\nU.S. Attorney Lapham refused to answer specific questions about the evidence against the three would-be ELF members. He wouldn\u2019t comment on things Anna did or didn\u2019t do, or respond to questions about the transcripts from FBI surveillance of the cabin or the e-mail correspondence between the group members. \u201cI just can\u2019t be perceived as trying my case in the press,\u201d Lapham explained. He did speak generally about what is in the government\u2019s complaint against the three and about conspiracy and entrapment generally.<\/p>\n<p>For example, he disagreed that debate about possible targets, such as the conversation on January 12, indicated a lack of agreement about carrying out a criminal act.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s say Al Qaeda has a meeting, and one guy wants to target the World Trade Center, and another guy wants to target Congress, and another wants to target the White House,\u201d Lapham explained. \u201cJust because there\u2019s a debate, does that mean there\u2019s no conspiracy to target buildings in the United States?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBullshit,\u201d responded Reichel. \u201cIf you had to choose, with limited resources, which of these places to protect from these people, you\u2019d say, \u2018None of them.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Like his rival, Reichel has some history with cases against anarchists.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s defended anarchists before, like Wobbly organizer Harjit Gill, who was convicted of lying to a grand jury about a McDonald\u2019s that was torched in Chico in 2003 in the name of ALF. (Gill was never accused of being involved in the fire.)<\/p>\n<p>Reichel describes himself as a mainstream Democrat. \u201cI eat at McDonald\u2019s. I live in a tract home. I drive an Excursion.\u201d He likes his client, but he has a habit of calling McDavid a knucklehead and an idiot.<\/p>\n<p>And he\u2019s getting ready to file a motion to dismiss the case because of \u201coutrageous government misconduct.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His client engaged in stupid, evil talk, said Reichel. But that was all. There could have been no conspiracy, he insisted, without Anna, the FBI agent who seemed to have all the answers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe provides the money. She provides the car. She rents the cabin. Oh, and by the way, \u2018I used to be a high-school chemistry teacher, so this is second nature to me.\u2019\u201d All that adds up to entrapment and worse, he said. \u201cThis is a case where the government is manufacturing crime,\u201d Reichel added.<\/p>\n<p>Professor George Harris, who teaches at McGeorge School of Law, isn\u2019t so sure. He explained that federal law gives law enforcement and prosecutors a lot of latitude.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust because the FBI provides an opportunity to commit the crime doesn\u2019t make it entrapment,\u201d Harris said. He added, \u201cFederal conspiracy law has developed in a way that is quite broad. It\u2019s generally fairly easy to prove. That\u2019s why prosecutors like it a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Consider the recent arrest for conspiracy of a group of Haitians in Miami, who had no expertise, no bomb-making materials and only an inkling of what they wanted to target. The government declared another victory against domestic terrorism in that case, but it raised questions of \u201cpre-emptive\u201d arrests in the national media.<\/p>\n<p>Closer to home, the trial of father and son Umer and Hamid Hayat revealed that an FBI informant encouraged Hamid to attend terrorist training camps in Pakistan, exactly what Hayat was tried for.<\/p>\n<p>The jury will have to decide whether those activities constituted entrapment or good clean anti-terrorist work. \u201cIf the defense of entrapment is raised, the government does have the burden of proving that the defendant wasn\u2019t induced into the crime. We think we can do that,\u201d Lapham said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t have to wait until the match is lit to take action,\u201d he added. McDavid is facing somewhere between 17 and 20 years in federal prison for the conspiracy. He\u2019s eligible for the maximum penalty because it was considered a terrorist conspiracy.<\/p>\n<p>Reichel said that, unlike Weiner and Jenson, McDavid wants to go to trial\u2014though life in custody is taking its toll. \u201cHe lives a life of total hell. He spends 24 hours a day in his tiny cell.\u201d McDavid is in what jailers call \u201cT-sep,\u201d or total separation. It\u2019s supposed to be for McDavid\u2019s own protection. Having been labeled a terrorist, he\u2019s more likely to be attacked by other inmates, Reichel explained.<\/p>\n<p>But McDavid is no terrorist, Reichel said. He\u2019s just a big talker who got manipulated by an informant eager to produce a real live terrorist for her bosses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a certain angst that comes with being a certain age. You say things you probably wouldn\u2019t act on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut when you have someone poking you and prodding, egging you on, that\u2019s different,\u201d Reichel added.<\/p>\n<p>As for Anna, nobody but her FBI handlers knows where she is today. There are rumors that she\u2019s back in Iowa, though she could be anywhere that young anarchists and radical environmentalists are congregated. In fact, the next time you attend a large demonstration, against the World Trade Organization or maybe the Democratic National Convention, you might meet her.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8413\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/?attachment_id=8413\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8413\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8413\" class=\" wp-image-8413\" title=\"The Banality of Evil\" alt=\"anna-face FBI\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/anna-faceFBI.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"935\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/anna-faceFBI.jpg 640w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/anna-faceFBI-205x300.jpg 205w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-8413\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anna: FBI Informant<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>\u201cAnna\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0(DOB ~1986, according to court testimony): of Miami, Florida when she started working for the Feds<\/p>\n<p><em>Informant Status<\/em>: Worked as an informant in the anarchist\/environmental\/animal rights movements since at least 2003 (during the FTAA protests in Miami). She attended various gatherings, meetings and protests up until January 2006 when\u00a0<a title=\"Support Eric McDavid\" href=\"http:\/\/www.supporteric.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Eric McDavid<\/a>, Lauren Weiner, and Zachary Jenson were arrested in Auburn, CA and charged with conspiracy to destroy public and private property. During her time with the trio, Anna wore a wire, had a recording device in her car, possibly her bag, and the house they were living in (that the Feds paid for) was wired. She reported back to the feds about anyone and everyone she came into contact with\u2014not just Eric, Zach and Lauren. The criminal complaint against Eric states that Anna was involved in the prosecution of at least 12 other \u201canarchist\u201d cases. According to her testimony at Eric McDavid\u2019s trial, she was recruited by the FBI after going \u201cundercover\u201d to write a paper for a class about the FTAA protests. During her time as an informant, she reported on people attending Crimethinc gatherings, the DNC, the RNC, BioDev in Philly, the G8, Feral Visions and more. Her work entrapping Eric McDavid landed him in prison for a term of almost 20 years.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8414\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/?attachment_id=8414\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8414\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8414\" class=\" wp-image-8414\" title=\"Easy to Spot Tattoo? \" alt=\"anna-bike\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/anna-bike.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"930\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/anna-bike.jpg 640w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/anna-bike-206x300.jpg 206w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-8414\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anna on Holiday<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>Current Information:<\/em>\u00a0Anna is approximately 5\u20194\u2019\u2019 and of average build. During her time working for the feds, she dyed her hair frequently\u2014sometimes blond, sometimes red, sometimes brown. She told people she was a medic, wore a medic\u2019s garb and carried a medic\u2019s bag, although no one ever actually saw her perform any of the functions of a medic. She boasted of previous actions, was bold in her speech, and was incredibly pushy. She always had seemingly bottomless pockets and even paid for Weiner to fly across the country. According to FOIA documents, Anna was residing in Philadelphia at some point after Eric\u2019s arrest. Before Eric was arrested, Anna had used the email address: annadavies99@yahoo.com. She used this phone number prior to the arrests: 954-821-2477. She also sometimes told people that Anna was an alias and that \u201cGrai Damiani\u201d was her real name.<\/p>\n<p>For more insight into Anna, you can read court transcripts of her testimony at Eric\u2019s trial at:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.supporteric.org\/\">supporteric.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Men cry, &#8220;Peace, Peace!&#8221;, but there IS no &#8216;peace&#8217;. Is peace so sweet and life so dear that we would purchase it at ANY cost?&#8211;I know not what course others may take, but as for me, Give me Liberty&#8230;or give &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/entrapment-how-our-youth-are-criminalized\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8387"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8411,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8387\/revisions\/8411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}