Originally posted on the EarthFirst! Journal website.
Tomorrow, May 5, 2014, Liam Mulholland will be sentenced for his involvement in a 2003 ELF arson.
Mulholland pleaded guilty to setting fire to a house at Mystic Forest housing development in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on March 21, 2003. Spray painted on the garage of a neighboring house were the words “ELF – No Sprawl.”
In Michigan, the mandatory minimum for this kind of property destruction is five years in prison. However, the government has requested a reduced sentence because of Mulholland’s “cooperation” with the federal government.
From his plea agreement and the Government’s Sentencing Memorandum, it seems Mulholland handed the feds a lot of information. He claimed involvement in several more ELF and ALF actions, including arsons that destroyed two homes at another housing development in Michigan in June of 2003; using incendiary devices to destroy chicken delivery trucks in Bloomington, Indiana in May of 2002; an arson at a housing development in Bloomington, Indiana in June of 2002; and a failed attempt to set fire to a pumping station in Stanwood, Michigan, in September of 2003.
Mulholland also provided feds with the names of the other activists with whom he carried out these actions—as well as where and how they traveled, where and when they planned and discussed their actions, what they purchased for the actions, how they disposed of the purchased items, and how they carried out each action.
The government is requesting a sentence of 18 months for Mulholland—a reduction of 42 months from the state’s mandatory minimum—because his cooperation will aid the government in cracking down on the other ELF and ALF suspects: “The government has determined that the defendant’s cooperation to date amounts to substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of others.”
The agreement also asserts that, because of his cooperation, all his charges related to the other admitted ELF and ALF arsons will be dismissed.
And it seems that Mulholland isn’t the only one snitching. The Sentencing Memorandum states that, though Mulholland often asserted that he was simply “along for the ride” during these actions, the feds have received contradictory information: “According to witnesses, it was the defendant who had the expertise to construct incendiary devices and did so for both the arson of the delivery trucks at Sim’s Poultry, as well as the attempted arson of the Ice Mountain pumping station.”
Stay tuned for more information after tomorrow’s sentencing hearing. If anyone has pictures of Liam Mulholland, or more information, please send them to collective [at] earthfirstjournal [dot] org, so that the word can be spread, and activists and activist groups can be on guard for the presence of this snitch.
For more information on snitches and informants, be sure to check out our online Informant Tracker.
Rabbit is an editor for the Earth First! Journal and Newswire. He can be reached at rabbit [at] earthfirstjournal [dot] org. If you appreciated reading this article, or want to support the informant tracking and prisoner support services, please consider subscribing or donating today.