Vol. 76/No. 46      December 17, 2012

The three had been active in Cleveland Occupy Wall Street activities. Douglas Wright, 27, was sentenced to 11 years and six months in federal prison, Brandon Baxter, 20, to nine years and nine months, and Connor Stevens, 20, to eight years and one month.

In addition, Dowd sentenced all three to lifelong probation after their release.

“That is a product of ‘terrorist enhancement,’” Terry Gilbert, attorney for Connor Stevens, told the Militant. This refers to harsh sentencing guidelines applied in cases the government contends, and the court agrees, are instances of terrorism. “Had these guidelines not been applied by the judge, Connor would have been liable for no more than five years supervised release.”

A total of five anarchists have been charged in the case.

One, Anthony Hayne, copped a plea earlier and turned state’s evidence, offering to testify against the others. This led Wright, Baxter and Stevens to enter into a noncooperating plea agreement in September, forgoing their right to a trial.

A fifth, Joshua Stafford, is still being screened to determine his mental competence to stand trial.

A number of news articles, including one in the Sept. 17 Rolling Stone, “The Plot Against Occupy: How the government turned five stoner misfits into the world’s most hapless terrorist cell,” provide a picture of the government frame-up. They were targeted by a paid government informer, identified in the press as Shaquille Azir, who had been employed by the FBI while enmeshed in a series of charges for passing bad checks. He had previously been convicted on charges of drug possession, theft and robbery.

The FBI sent Azir into the Cleveland Occupy group, ostensibly after receiving a report from another informer of “potential criminal activity and threats involving anarchists.”

Azir met Wright and the others, got them jobs, provided them with alcohol, marijuana and amphetamines, pushed them to take more serious action, introduced them to undercover FBI agents posing as weapons salesmen, and gave them money to buy some government-doctored nonexplosive C-4 bombs. Over months, he badgered them into finally agreeing to target the bridge.

Azir drove them to the bridge, stood watch while they lay the fake C-4 near it, and then drove them to an Applebee’s restaurant where they attempted to detonate the mock bombs with government-supplied cellphones, and were arrested.

“The government is still trying to keep the informant’s name a secret,” Gilbert told the Militant. “And that’s the real story—his despicable behavior with the approval and acquiescence of the FBI trying to make a case that would never have happened without him.”

The sentences handed down by Judge Dowd were substantially less than demanded by the U.S. Justice Department. After the hearing, the judge told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the government’s demands were “grotesque.”

Dowd, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, came under fire from columnist Phillip Morris in the Nov. 28 Plain Dealer for his ruling. “It’s one thing for a federal judge to be soft on crime,” Morris wrote. “It’s quite another to be soft on treason.”

On Nov. 30 Hayne, who had turned snitch on his cohorts, was sentenced to six years in prison plus lifelong probation.

Wright, Baxter and Stevens are appealing their sentences.  
 
 
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