SUV Arsonist's Trial Request Rejected

LOS ANGELES - A graduate student convicted in the $2 million firebombing of scores of sport utility vehicles lost a bid Monday for a new trial.

A federal judge rejected the motion by 24-year-old William Jensen Cottrell, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Cottrell had claimed the court improperly barred his attorneys from presenting evidence that he suffered from a type of autism that made it difficult for him to understand the intentions of his alleged accomplices.

U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner sided with prosecutors, who argued that Cottrell's complaint was "irrelevant to the issues at trial."

Cottrell, a doctoral candidate at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, was found guilty in November of conspiracy to commit arson and seven counts of arson in the August 2003 rampage.

More than 100 vehicles were damaged or destroyed at dealerships and homes in the San Gabriel Valley near Los Angeles by vandals who spray-painted "polluter" and "ELF," an acronym for the radical environmental group Earth Liberation Front, on some of the vehicles.

Cottrell blamed the arson on accomplices. Two fellow students have been identified by prosecutors as "fugitive co-conspirators."

Cottrell is to be sentenced March 7. He faces at least five years in prison, according to prosecutors.






LINK: Yahoo News

 

Excuse me but, ".....suffered from a type of autism that made it difficult for him to understand the intentions of his alleged accomplices.

The guy needs some new lawyers.....my opinion. I mean, a doctoral candidate at, of all places, Caltech, arguing he couldn't understand the intentions of those around him setting property on fire? Sheesh!

 

Absolutely! EXCEPT in cases where defendants are pursuing doctorates at prestigious institutions like Caltech. :wink: