Maryam Khajavi, Joseph Buddenberg, Adriana Stumpo and Nathan Pope certainly don’t look like your typical al-Qaeda wannabes. That’s what U.S. District Judge Ronald M. Whyte ruled on Monday, when he tossed out charges of terrorism against the four for participating in threatening rallies outside the home of a UC researchers in 2009.
Maryam Khajavi, Joseph Buddenberg, Adriana Stumpo and Nathan Pope certainly don’t look like your typical al-Qaeda wannabes. That’s what U.S. District Judge Ronald M. Whyte ruled on Monday, when he tossed out charges of terrorism against the four for participating in threatening rallies outside the home of a UC researchers in 2009.
The prosecution tried to get them under the little-used federal Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, which equated force, violence, or threats “for the purpose of damaging or interfering with the operations of an animal enterprise.” The law, which was passed in 2006, was introduced by Representative Thomas Petri (R-Wisconsin) and the unlikely pair of Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma). Only six members of the House were on the floor when the bill passed, and one of them, Dennis Kucinich, voted against it.
Judge Whyte ruled that the charged brought against the four were not sufficiently specific. Read more at NBC Bay Area.
