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SoCal environmentalist case goes to jury after closing arguments

By Elliot Spagat

Associated Press

A prosecutor called environmental activist Rod Coronado "a recruiter and a mentor of arson" in closing arguments Monday, while a defense attorney said he was an innocent practitioner of free speech.

Both sides dwelled on Coronado's remarks to a San Diego audience in August 2003, only a few hours after a $50 million condo project burned down nearby in an apparent eco-terrorism attack. Coronado showed the crowd how to make a Molotov cocktail out of an apple-juice jug, though prosecutors have not linked him to the fire earlier that day.

Coronado, 41, is renowned for helping sink whaling ships and destroying mink farms and animal research labs, though he renounced violence last year. He was charged in February 2006 with a single count of distributing information on explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction with the intent that his listeners commit illegal acts of violence.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison under sentencing guidelines imposed after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"He's not on trial for what he believes, he's not on trial for what he thinks about the environment, he's on trial for what he did," said Assistant U.S. Attorney John Parmley. Coronado, he said, gave followers "a perfect tool" to set fires.

The prosecutor reviewed Coronado's writings and speeches, which hailed arson as "a very sacred power" and encouraged activists to cause "maximum destruction."

Coronado's attorney, Tony Serra, said prosecutors failed to present any evidence linking him to fires. Coronado's remarks were protected by U.S. Constitution and his client never crossed a line by inciting people to violence, he said.

"Nothing he said ever induced an arson, they have not shown that," Serra said. "You'd be throwing the law aside if you convict."

The jury was scheduled to deliberate for a second day on Tuesday. Coronado, who lives in Tucson, Ariz., is free on $50,000 bail.

The San Diego blaze was apparently started by the underground Earth Liberation Front, making it the costliest eco-terrorism attack in the nation's history. A 12-foot banner left at the scene read: "If you build it, we will burn it. The ELFs are mad."

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SoCal environmentalist case goes to jury after closing arguments

By Elliot Spagat

Associated Press