Article Xtra #1 :: Activist Lawyers and the Wildness Brief

In this week's Santa Fe Reporter, I have a

about Katherine Christianson, a local massage therapist who was picked up by the Feds last summer for some Earth Liberation Front sabotage she committed eight years ago when she was a teenager. Christianson--and co-defendant Bryan Lefey--pled guilty in federal court and are serving two and three year sentences, respectively.

In a way, Christianson and Lefey lucked out with their court appointed attorneys, both of whom keep environmentalism and direct action close to their hearts. Christianson's lawyer Mark Maciolek explained in a court filing asking for leniency in her sentencing that he himself had been involved in civil disobedience when he was younger:

During the sentencing hearing, Maciolek went even further to suggest that had he been in Christianson's shoes, he would've gone on the lam.

"Kate came over a thousand miles to be here today knowing that she faced a guideline range of the maximum sentence," Maciolek told the judge, according to court room transcripts. . "I don't know many people that would do that, Your Honor. I have tried to think about it myself and I have to say, you know, perhaps it's a weakness of my character, I don't think I would be here. I think I would have left the country if I had the opportunity."

Meanwhile, Lefey's attorney Reed Cornia, completed a masters degree in Environmental History, which included in-depth study of social movements and ecological philosophies. As SFR researched the cases, I couldn't help but be impressed by the level of thought provoking discourse in Cornia's appellate brief; a 37-page document that debates the semantics of "wildness" and terrorism in the modern age. Here's an excerpt:

And on terrorism:

Fascinating stuff, yeah? You can download the briefs right here:

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