Briana Waters' Trial in Tacoma and the Impact on the Olympia Community

author : Olympia Civil Liberties Resource topic : Green Scare | Briana Waters

by the Olympia Civil Liberties Resource

On February 11, 2008, trial began in the federal government’s case against Briana Waters. Ms. Waters, an Evergreen State College graduate and former Olympian, is accused of conspiring to set fire to the University of Washington’s Center for Urban Horticulture in 2001. Specifically, the government accuses Ms. Waters of acting as a lookout. Ms. Waters, a violin teacher and 32-year-old mother of a little girl, steadfastly maintains her innocence.

Federal sentences for arsons, including those motivated by greed, insurance fraud, and even racial hatred, typically fall within the 5-7 year range. But if convicted on both counts of which she is charged, Ms. Waters faces a mandatory minimum of 35 years behind bars (five for the arson charge, and 30 for conspiring to use a destructive device).

The case against Briana Waters rests largely on the testimony of two informants, Lacey Phillabaum and Jennifer Kolar. Both informants have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the arson at the UW and have received leniency in their sentencing for naming and testifying against Briana Waters. The story of the informants is an old one. Ben Rosenfeld in his article “Informant Games, The Disturbing Green Scare Case of Briana Waters,” states, “It is well known in the informant game that informants must trade new names for favors, not names the government already has. Inevitably, this leads to the risk that informants will implicate innocent people. In addition, police can easily mold the information they receive from informants into what they want to hear. According to former FBI agent Jack Ryan, who was fired for refusing to go along with the FBI’s counterintelligence program against the Plowshares Movement in the 1980s, the FBI “would simply make up the information it wanted to hear and put it in the mouths of informants, real or fictitious.”

Briana Waters’ case is an example of using media, informants, and fear to put a guilty verdict on her before she has been to trial. In the media, the former US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales led a press conference stating Ms. Waters was guilty. And since 2006, following Ms. Water’s arrest, the FBI have attempted to procure informants and evidence from the Olympia community. The use of informants has led to the release of copious amounts of personal data of those involved in specific community organizations deemed threatening by the government. Both the media hysteria and informant games cause further fear in this post 9-11 time. The federal government asserts that our community, the Olympia activist community, is an example of activism that progresses to “terrorism.” Through such uses of the media and keywords, the government instills more fear. By this association, any form of free thinking or exercising our first amendment rights creates a platform for “homegrown terrorism.” This is an obvious lie to generate more fear, and heralds the underlying message: do not dissent from the current administration.

Briana Waters should be given fair and balanced court proceedings. But the government, unable to prove their case, has used tactics of coercion, manipulation of evidence, and basic denial of defense’s evidence in the courtroom. Rosenfeld states, “According to the filed motion, the federal agents’ and prosecutors’ misconduct not only violates Ms. Waters’ constitutional rights and undermines her defense, it constitutes the crimes of perjury and obstruction of justice. However, the federal judge, Franklin Burgess, has shown no interest in disciplining the government or repairing the damage to Ms. Waters’ defense. In his January 7, 2008 order denying the motion, the Judge wrote, without substantiating his findings: ‘Nothing in Defendant Waters’ assertions about the timing and content of the FBI agents’ 302s convinces the Court to conclude that there has been misconduct, intentional failure to disclose, production of a fraudulent 302, or untimely production of discovery.’”

According to one of Ms. Waters’ attorneys, Bob Bloom, “The government hand-picked this judge by manipulating court procedures. This is a classic case of a corrupt prosecution, and a judge who apparently chooses to look the other way.”

The main point is that the motion to obtain the falsified 302 (informant’s testimony) shows the partiality of the court. There deserves to be a fair and balanced trial but Judge Burgess has shown extreme partiality to the government and has continued to do so throughout the trial up to this date. More than once, the judge has denied key witnesses to the defense of Briana Waters, which is denial of her basic constitutional rights. Even when the defense has filed motions for reconsideration, the judge has denied them showing his true colors.

But we citizens and protectors of civil liberties will not look the other way. Our presence in the courtroom for this trial is constant. We have been able to document and disperse the information about this case to media sources invested in the well being of citizens. It is important that as concerned community members, students, independent reporters, and activists, we continue to bear witness to these proceedings. Our civil liberties are on the line, not only for the present time but for generations to come.

Briana Waters was a prominent community member in Olympia and the Evergreen community. She maintains her innocence. It is chilling when people are targeted after years of community involvement, through personal friends turning informants and the intensive surveillance in our community. This case has been a wide fishing expedition and not targeted on one group. We all have much to learn from this case in our community.

For the duration of the trial, visit portland.indymedia.org/en/topic/greenscare for more information on how to dress and act respectful to the court.

For full transcript and current notes on the proceedings in the court, go to http://www.cldc.org/waters.html

For donating directly to Briana, her family and the defense, visit http://www.supportbriana.org.

The Olympia Civil Liberties Resource is committed to monitoring our civil liberties in our community and is currently focused on the Briana Waters case. There will be a community debriefing after this case is over. For more information: http://www.olycivlib.org and http://portland.indymedia.org/en/topic/greenscare .