Her case has emerged as a potential watershed moment in the eco-extremism movement, galvanizing free-speech advocates and renewing calls for reform. And the outcome could reverberate down through future American protest movements.
An overview of the fight between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Energy Transfer Partners.In the fall of 2016, under the cover of darkness, Jessica Reznicek had a singular focus: to halt the construction of the. At valve sites across America's heartland, she snuck through security fences, set fire to equipment, and used chemicals to burn holes in the pipeline itself.
At a time when domestic violent extremism is on the rise, experts say Reznicek's appeal presents a fresh opportunity to reexamine how terrorism cases are prosecuted -- and who deserves to be labeled a terrorist.Long before Reznicek committed herself to a life of environmental activism, the Iowa native felt a deep connection to nature.
"Everybody's afraid of these environmental groups and fear that it might look bad if you fight back with these people," said Kelcy Warren, CEO OF Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, during a cable news appearance in August 2017."But what they did to us is wrong, and they are going to pay for it."
"They should expect -- regardless of how noble their cause -- that they will be investigated, arrested, prosecuted, and, if convicted, incarcerated as terrorists," Cohen said.But critics complain that the law is too broad and too inconsistently applied. Terrorism sentences have historically been used against defendants with ties to ISIS or al-Qaida, or to violent domestic extremists like Cesar Sayoc, who was convicted in 2018 for mailing pipe bombs to members of Congress.
"In the court of common sense, individuals who went into the Capitol to engage in destructive behavior for the purposes of impeding congressional action and certifying the vote are, by its very definition, engaged in terrorism," Cohen said."Unfortunately, under our current legal environment, it may not meet the elements of a terrorism offense."
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