Sign on support statement for non-cooperating Green Scare defendant Marie Mason

from email, 15 September 2008:

On September 8, Marie Mason accepted a non-cooperating plea agreement which requires her to plead guilty to three out of four charges leveled against her by the US Attorney's Office relating to E.L.F. activity. We are aware that Marie was facing several consecutive life sentences had she taken her case to trial and been convicted. She was also facing the threat of additional indictments in other districts. Within the wording of Marie’s plea agreement, she stipulates to the involvement of confirmed snitch and government informant, Frank Ambrose, in the actions she plead guilty to. Frank Ambrose has already plead guilty and admitted his involvement in these actions in his own plea agreement. We have all reviewed a full and un-redacted copy of Marie's agreement. There are no other names mentioned in the plea agreement, rather the terminology ‘others’ is used. Furthermore, her plea agreement does not require her to provide information about other individuals, testify against others, or provide any further information to law enforcement.

Sign on Support statement for Non Cooperating Green Scare Defendant Marie Mason

In a movement wide show of unity and Solidarity. We are encouraging groups, collectives and individuals to sign on to the statement in support of Marie Mason. Please forward sign ons to freemarie@riseup.net. For more info on Marie and her case check out www.freemarie.org .

On September 8, Marie Mason accepted a non-cooperating plea agreement which requires her to plead guilty to three out of four charges leveled against her by the US Attorney's Office relating to E.L.F. activity. We are aware that Marie was facing several consecutive life sentences had she taken her case to trial and been convicted. She was also facing the threat of additional indictments in other districts. Within the wording of Marie’s plea agreement, she stipulates to the involvement of confirmed snitch and government informant, Frank Ambrose, in the actions she plead guilty to. Frank Ambrose has already plead guilty and admitted his involvement in these actions in his own plea agreement. We have all reviewed a full and un-redacted copy of Marie's agreement. There are no other names mentioned in the plea agreement, rather the terminology ‘others’ is used. Furthermore, her plea agreement does not require her to provide information about other individuals, testify against others, or provide any further information to law enforcement.

Frank Ambrose has been a paid informant for the FBI since April 2007. Along with numerous debriefs with federal agents concerning multiple actions and individuals, Ambrose traveled the country “wearing a wire” - visiting old friends and attempting to make new ones - in an effort to incriminate these people, thereby assisting the FBI in securing additional indictments. There are hundreds of hours of recordings of Frank in conversations with his ‘friends’ and ‘allies,’ prodding and digging for information to use against those individuals and other activists. Marie was arrested along with Aaron Burthwick and Stephanie Fultz – these arrests stemmed directly from the information and cooperation Ambrose provided to the FBI. Ambrose not only cooperated fully with the FBI but actively assisted the investigation, going so far as to pursue information on other unrelated groups and individuals involved in legal, above-ground activism.

We believe wholeheartedly in the principle of non-cooperation. We also believe that the idea of expecting someone to face several consecutive life sentences to protect a confirmed snitch – one who has already plead guilty to the charges – follows not only flawed reasoning, but is simply insane.

Marie Mason has faced calculated betrayal and continued to fight when the deck was so clearly stacked against her. Throughout this, she has acted completely “above board” and has carried herself admirably. She has shown incredible courage and integrity throughout this case, always putting the safety of others above her own. Despite threats and risks to their personal safety, those involved in Marie’s case worked diligently to get information about Ambrose to the rest of us. Marie refused to even look at a cooperating plea agreement and has refused for weeks to sign the current non-cooperating plea agreement because Ambrose, the very person who turned her over to the Feds, was named in the agreement. It was not until several movement activists and movement attorneys gave their support to the agreement that Marie accepted the plea.

Too much has been lost to informants, and Ambrose truly is among the worst of them. Marie strikes us all as a courageous and compassionate woman - full of integrity and concern for how her actions might affect others. While her plea agreement does not include specific text protecting her from future subpoenas or interrogations, Marie’s conduct thus far serves as a good measure of the actions she would take should she find herself in that kind of situation. Marie's agreement absolutely falls into the non-cooperating category. We are throwing our full support behind her and all prisoners who have maintained their integrity in the face of such incredible oppression. We ask that the rest of you do the same and help us help Marie get through the next 15 to 20 years of her life – the horrid sentence being sought by the US District Attorney’s office.

To date the above statement is endorsed by the following -

Ecoprisoners.org
Peace Center Collective of Kalamazoo, MI
East Bay Prisoner Support Collective
Chicago Anarchist Black Cross
Got Your Back Collective
Earth Warriors Are OK! (EWOK!) Eco Prisoner support collective of Twin Cities, MN

[original article]

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Non-Cooperating Green Scare Defendant Marie Mason Plea details

On Monday, September 8, 2008 Midwest “Green Scare” arrestee Marie Mason accepted a plea bargain offered by federal authorities.

The “Green Scare” is the name given to the recent arrests of animal rights and ecological activists who have been charged with acts of economic sabotage, in which federal authorities have sought outrageous sentences (often Life in prison) and have publicly and legally labeled the activists as “terrorists”, despite the fact that no one has been hurt in any of the actions.

The following was written by a friend and supporter of Marie's with the Fifth Estate Collective. Marie is scheduled for a change of plea hearing tomorrow. We will post Marie's unredacted plea as soon as it is accepted by the court.

Struggle,
Got Your Back Collective
See www.freemarie.org

On Monday, September 8, 2008 Midwest “Green Scare” arrestee Marie Mason accepted a plea bargain offered by federal authorities.

The “Green Scare” is the name given to the recent arrests of animal rights and ecological activists who have been charged with acts of economic sabotage, in which federal authorities have sought outrageous sentences (often Life in prison) and have publicly and legally labeled the activists as “terrorists”, despite the fact that no one has been hurt in any of the actions.

Mason was arrested in March 2008 and charged with four felony offenses, which were related to two 1999 actions of eco-sabotage in which no one was hurt. Mason’s arrest was based on information provided by Frank Ambrose, Mason’s former husband, who unbeknownst to her had been cooperating with authorities for a number of years, and who entered his own plea bargain in March of 2008.

Mason has been an activist in the environmental and labor movement for 25 years, and has resisted cooperating with authorities in a number grand juries. Since her arrest, Mason and her lawyer have been pushing for a non-cooperating agreement of the kind that other “Green Scare” arrestees have been able to get from west coast prosecutors.

However, federal prosecutors in Michigan have refused to offer her a similar deal. The only plea-bargain offered was for 15-20 years but which required her to implicate other activists by name. Additionally it was stipulated that if Mason did not accept this offer by Friday, September 5, prosecutors were going to ask for Life at the trial, and also indict her on new charges relating to two other eco-sabotage actions. Mason refused this offer since it required her providing information against other activists and prepared to go to trial.

On September 5, two hours before the deadline, federal prosecutors relented and offered a new deal, which required Mason only to name Frank Ambrose in her plea bargain. No information that Ambrose had not already provided was required from her. Additionally, the plea bargain included clauses that do not require her to perform any debriefs (as other non-cooperating Green Scare arrestees did) and did not require any additional testimony.

Mason consulted with several different attorneys concerning this offer, including Lauren Regan of the Civil Liberties Defense Center in Eugene, Oregon. Their conclusion was that, despite the fact that Mason would be required to name Ambrose in her deal, no activists would be hurt by this agreement, including Ambrose himself. The likely reason that Mason is required to name Ambrose is because one of the four charges against Mason is “conspiracy”, and another person is required to be named for the charge.

After holding out for six months and preparing to go to trial rather than compromise other activists, this is not the deal that Mason would like to accept, but it is the only option that federal authorities have offered. Because of the cooperation of her former husband Ambrose, there is no expectation that Mason would win a jury trial. Part of this decision is also the long sentences handed to the very few Green Scare arrestees who have gone to trail, such as Eric McDavid, as is the intense financial and emotional strain that this process is taking on Mason’s immediate family.

Mason thanks her supporters for all their efforts. She understands that some of them will be unhappy with her decision to accept a plea bargain which names only Frank Ambrose, even though no additional information is provided about him which he has not already divulged by him, and that her own predicament is because of his choice to cooperate with authorities. However, after holding out for six months in hope of a full non-cooperating plea, and preparing to go to trial despite the impact it will have on her family and her future, she has decided to accept this offer.

In the spirit of full transparency, the plea bargain will be made public shortly.

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Addition:

Dear friends, I, and the Civil Liberties Defense Center have been assisting non-cooperating defendants dragged into the Green Scare prosecutions of environmental and animal rights activists since late 2005 (grand juries as far back as 02!). Marie Mason is one of those activists currently facing life in prison as the result of a snitch who was also her husband until they recently divorced. I have worked with her and her attorney since shortly after her indictment. Her attorney utilized our plea agreements from the Oregon non-cooperating defendants' cases in negotiating Marie's case. Her attorney has provided me with, and I have reviewed all of the court documents in her case including her plea agreement.

I state with unequivocal confidence and knowledge that Marie has been absolutely stalwart in her commitment to not cooperate with the government, and to do no act that would damage the larger environmental movement in any way. She is an amazingly strong woman and I wish I had met her before her legal troubles began. Her plea agreement and negotiations do not require her to provide any information at all, other than to admit her own crimes in open court. The feds wanted their boy Ambrose to also be listed in the crimes that Marie is pleading to and to which Ambrose not only admitted, but gave up info on anything and everything he could think of. She has never confirmed or denied his role in any crime, but based upon the feds insistence that he be named in her plea counts, she will agree in court that if the feds say he did it, and Ambrose himself has sung like a canary, then so be it. Ambrose made his own bed long ago (see below). Like the other noncooperating defendants, the government could subpoena her to a grand jury or trial in the future. It would be her choice at that point whether to cooperate or not. Based upon the fact that she was willing to go to trial and face the rest of her life in prison if she was not offered a pure non-cooperation deal, I think we can speculate as to her decision if she was merely facing a contempt charge. Hopefully that will not happen.

Marie has not received any favors or special treatment by the US Attorneys prosecuting her in Michigan; in fact, it is despicable that Marie may do more time then any other Green Scare defendant to date as a result of her choice to not snitch. Marie joins Jonathan Paul, Daniel McGowan, Sadie, Exile, Briana Waters, Tre Arrow, Rod Coronado, Eric McDavid and several others I am probably forgetting to mention -- these folks are wholeheartedly deserving of our support as activists that have maintained their integrity in the face of political persecution by the federal government. They will do extra days or years in prison as a result of their refusal to give information to the feds used to prosecute others. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with Marie's situation. If you are able to contribute financially, I'm sure they would deeply appreciate it, and if not, please show solidarity for Marie as she goes through the process of being yanked away from her children and family for a long time.

Peace,
Lauren C. Regan, Attorney at Law
The Civil Liberties Defense Center
www.cldc.org

[original article]

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