Three men who pleaded guilty to potting to bomb the Route 82 bridge in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park near Cleveland, Ohio, were sentenced today. U.S. District Judge David Dowd Jr. handed down the sentences, all of which fell short of what prosecutors had requested.
The group’s leader, Douglas Wright, 27, of Indianapolis, Ind., was sentenced to 11½ years in prison. A pre-sentence report described Wright as having recruited the other men from the Occupy Cleveland movement and making contact with the undercover FBI agent who eventually provided the group with fake explosives.
Brandon Baxter, 21, of Lakewood, Ohio, was sentenced to a 9-year, 9-month prison term, and Connor Stevens, 21, of Berea, Ohio, was sentenced to 8 years in prison. Federal prosecutors had asked for sentences of 19 to 30 years.
WKYC-TV’s Sara Shookman covered the proceedings.
Judge Dowd confirms he's going to vary downward from the sentencing guidelines and government's ask.
— Sara Shookman – WKYC (@SaraShookman) November 20, 2012
Akron: Judge Dowd sentenced David Wright, bridge bomb ring leader, to 11.5 years, supervised for life. Now Baxter is up.
— Sara Shookman – WKYC (@SaraShookman) November 20, 2012
Baxter:"If [the government] really cared about the people, why don't you send someone in to diffuse the situation instead of escalating it?"
— Sara Shookman – WKYC (@SaraShookman) November 20, 2012
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Dowd sentenced Baxter to 117 months. Life supervision. Connor Stevens up next in 5 minutes.
— Sara Shookman – WKYC (@SaraShookman) November 20, 2012
James Stevens, Connor's father:"my son is guilty and so are you…the government is guilty. It's both your faults."
— Sara Shookman – WKYC (@SaraShookman) November 20, 2012
A fourth member of the group, Anthony Hayne, 35, of Cleveland, is expected in court tomorrow.
Occupy Wall Street has declared the sentencings a case of “no justice,” citing entrapment by the FBI. Baxter, Stevens and Wright were expected to argue entrapment but dropped that defense as part of a plea deal.
After #FBI entrapment of @OccupyCleveland activists, sentences today of eight to sixteen years. #NoJustice http://t.co/QEHudnYw
— #GeneralStrike2020 will #OccupyWallStreet (@OccupyWallStNYC) November 20, 2012
Also on hand: members of Occupy Cleveland, who appeared to show their support.
Shookman, though, couldn’t overlook one ironic defense of one of the would-be bombers.
Baxter sentencing witnesses talking about how he was a member of "Westside Food not Bombs" before Occupy Cleveland began. #ironic
— Sara Shookman – WKYC (@SaraShookman) November 20, 2012
Related:
Occupy Cleveland members plead guilty in Ohio bridge bombing plot
Bomb plot suspect signed lease for Occupy Cleveland warehouse
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