AR-News: Free Free: The Case of Jeff Luers

[Camille]

http://www.satyamag.com/jan04/kay.html

Free Free: The Case of Jeff Luers
By Dylan Kay

You can judge my actions, but you can’t judge my heart. It cannot be 
said that I am unfeeling and uncaring. My heart is filled with love and 
compassion. I fight to protect life, all life, not to take it. —from 
Jeff Luers’s sentencing statement, June 11, 2001

Back in June 2000, a young activist named Jeff Luers, known to his 
friends as ‘Free,’ set fire with friend Craig Marshall to three Sport 
Utility Vehicles (SUVs) at Romania Chevrolet car lot in Eugene, Oregon, 
using simple milk jugs of gasoline, incense sticks and matches. Instead 
of receiving a three year sentence and fading into the background, Jeff 
was slapped with a 22.5 year sentence—which was not only longer than his 
lifetime at that point, but is one usually reserved for the most heinous 
of crimes like rape and murder, not acts of property destruction.

Jeff’s sentence has been criticized for its length, given that in 
Oregon, most arsonists receive sentences of 50 to 96 months; Jeff got 
over 230. As I write this, I read that Jeff’s trial judge recently 
sentenced a 21 year-old to just three years for throwing a molotov 
cocktail into a school. Jeff’s case has received international 
prominence in the environmental and social justice movements due to his 
severe sentence and has prompted the question, “why would someone burn 
three SUVs?”

Their stated purpose was to raise awareness about global warming and the 
role that SUVs play in that process. Both activists took measures to 
make sure that no one would be injured as a result of their action. In 
fact, the location was scouted for months beforehand. An arson 
specialist later confirmed that the action did not pose any threat to 
people based on its size and distance from any fuel source.

Read the rest of the story at:

http://www.satyamag.com/jan04/kay.html