No early exit
Federal judge denies eco-terrorist William Cottrell’s motion for release
By Jake Armstrong 11/19/2009
A federal judge on Monday ruled former Caltech graduate student William Cottrell must serve out the remainder of the 100-month sentence he received for plotting a wave of eco-terrorist firebomb and spray-paint attacks that scorched more than 130 SUVs at dealerships across the San Gabriel Valley in August 2003.
Cottrell’s attorney, Marvin Rudnick of Pasadena, had asked US District Judge R. Gary Klausner to release his client for time served (now over five years), after the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in September overturned Cottrell’s conviction on seven counts of arson, but left intact the conspiracy conviction. The appeals court ruled Cottrell should have been allowed to submit evidence showing how Asperger’s syndrome, a mild form of autism, affected his judgment in committing the crimes.
Cottrell even pleaded in writing for Klausner to allow him to return to his studies. But the judge refused to reduce Cottrell’s sentence even after considering his disability, Rudnick said.
“He felt that the crime was so serious that it would not change his sentence, even though there is only one count left,” Rudnick said.
Federal prosecutors last week decided not to retry Cottrell on the arson charges. That means Cottrell, who has spent 67 months in federal prison, could be eligible for release under federal guidelines in 18 months, when he will have served 85 percent of his sentence, his attorney said.
Klausner also refused to reduce the $3.5 million in restitution Cottrell has been ordered to pay, though he indicated he may hear motions to do so at a later date, Rudnick said.
A promising physicist, Cottrell, 29, was the only person convicted after a months-long FBI probe linked him to the attacks, allegedly plotted and carried out by Cottrell and two others in the name of the Earth Liberation Front, a guerilla environmental network the FBI considers a domestic terrorist organization. Authorities believe the two alleged co-conspirators, Caltech student Tyler Johnson and his girlfriend Michie Oe, have fled the country, though they were never indicted or charged.
Rudnick said he was disappointed that the court didn’t give greater consideration to Cottrell’s disability, a developmental disorder that can interfere with normal social interaction.
“I think someday that Asperger’s will be considered differently than it is now and will have a different effect on courts than it does now,” Rudnick said. “Autistic kids shouldn’t go to jail because they’re autistic, even though [Asperger’s] is a mild form of autism.”
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