The jury in the Rod Coronado trial has heard all the evidence it’s going to hear, as both the government and the defense rested their cases Thursday. Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday morning.
Coronado faces up to 20 years in prison for allegedly attempting to incite a Hillcrest audience to commit arson four years ago. Coronado, a veteran animal-right activist, was in Hillcrest on Aug. 1, 2003, to talk about his history of sabotaging companies that profit from destruction of the environment and ill treatment of animals. After his speech, a young woman, Cari Anne Shaw, asked him to show the audience how to “assemble an incendiary device.” His answer, which described how two different types of devices are made, is what has him in hot water.
Thursday’s testimony seemed be all about memory. Defense attorney Tony Serra grilled San Diego Police detective Joe Lehr on his memory of the Shaw’s question. Lehr paraphrased Shaw as asking Coronado to show her how to “make a bomb for an action.” The defense had produced an audiotape of the talk that the government was not aware of. The tape was played for the jury; Shaw didn’t use the words “bomb” or “action.” The latter term is important because in activist circles “direct action” sometimes means illegal activity.
The defense called three women, including Shaw, who were at the 2003 talk. They described it as a fairly run-of-the-mill activist event. Each said no one at the lecture seemed intent on running out and burning down buildings. During cross examination, prosecutors attempted to get activist Colleen Dietzel to say she had been concerned about the “radical” nature of the talk. Dietzel acknowledged being troubled by the violence involved in an arson that claimed a condo building under construction in University City some 15 hours before Coronado’s talk, but she said she wasn’t bothered by his words.
Read the last post on the trial here.
Read what I wrote back in 2003 about Coronado’s talk and the arson here.
September 16, 2007 - 12:31 pm at 12:31 pm
VICTORY for Rod - or at least a hung jury:
It is impossible that twelve intelligent jurors could find Rod guilty on all three conditions:
The judge told thel jurors that they must find that when Coronado spoke to a Hillcrest audience four years ago, he not only meant to
1. teach them step-by-step how to commit arson,
2. he intended them to go a commit federal crimes of viloence
3. that arson was “imminent” and “likely” to occur because of Coronado’s words.
1. He did a terrible job teaching them how to commit an arson. It is not enough to know how to fill a jug with gasoline, or how to make a cigarrette or incense fuse. If you do not place the incendiary in the right place it will have little effect. Even many ELF/ALF activists with much practrice have had numerous devices fail or cause little damage. I don’t even think Rod knows much about this.
2. Intent? How could any juror believe beyond a reasonable doubt that they knew for sure what Rod was thinking or intending… I doubt that Rod even knew. But the evidence is clear that Rod had reduced his activism over the years and that he was focusing more and more on his family. The FBI helped him make this decision to give up, with their constant harrassment.
3. Imminent or likely arson!
That is the clincher. There is no evidence that any speech by any activist ever resulted in any imminent arson. If we were to measure Rod’s speaking abilities based on his abuility to incite arson, we would have to give him an F. The law is clearly meant for a diffenerent type of speeech, one full of hate and directing people to go and commit violent crimes immediately.
“The rubber meets the road, I think, when it comes to jury instructions,” Judge Jeffrey Miller said. The jury gets its instructions before beginning its deliberations, which could start Friday or Monday.
Definitons:
imminent
One entry found for imminent.
Main Entry: im·mi·nent
Pronunciation: ‘i-m&-n&nt
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin imminent-, imminens, present participle of imminEre to project, threaten, from in- + -minEre (akin to Latin mont-, mons mountain) — more at MOUNT
: ready to take place; especially : hanging threateningly over one’s head
- im·mi·nent·ly adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
im·mi·nent /ˈɪmənənt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[im-uh-nuhnt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective 1. likely to occur at any moment; impending: Her death is imminent.
2. projecting or leaning forward; overhanging.
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[Origin: 1520–30; < L imminent- (s. of imminéns), prp. of imminére to overhang, equiv. to im- im-1 + -min- from a base meaning “jut out, project, rise” (cf. eminent, mount2) + -ent- -ent]
—Related forms
im·mi·nent·ly, adverb
im·mi·nent·ness, noun
—Synonyms 1. near, at hand. Imminent, Impending, Threatening all may carry the implication of menace, misfortune, disaster, but they do so in differing degrees. Imminent may portend evil: an imminent catastrophe, but also may mean simply “about to happen”: The merger is imminent. Impending has a weaker sense of immediacy and threat than imminent: Real tax relief legislation is impending, but it too may be used in situations portending disaster: impending social upheaval; to dread the impending investigation. Threatening almost always suggests ominous warning and menace: a threatening sky just before the tornado struck.
—Antonyms 1. distant, remote.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.