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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Environmental Activist Loses Appeal of Sentence

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - An environmental activist who burned down a timber factory was properly sentenced to 41 months in prison, the 9th Circuit ruled.

Kendall Tankersley committed the crime as one of 16 conspirators in the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front. She confessed to assisting in the destruction of U.S. Forest Industries Inc. in Medford, Ore.

Tankersley appealed the sentence, claiming that the court imposed an upward departure that gave her the same sentence as her co-conspirators whose attacks on government property earned them a sentence enhancement for terrorism.

Judge Tallman ruled that the district court did not abuse its discretion because it sought to equalize the penalties for attacking public and private buildings.

Tallman noted that Tankersley played no small role in the arson.

"She had an opportunity to withdraw from the conspiracy after the first attempt to destroy U.S. Forest Industries failed," Tallman wrote. "Her participation in the second attempt was vital to its success."

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