Judge rejects claims of misconduct in UW firebomb case

(Editor's Note: Ted Halla's name was misspelled in the original version of this story.)

A federal judge rejected allegations Monday of misconduct leveled against federal prosecutors and FBI agents by an attorney for a woman facing trial in the 2001 firebombing of the Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington.

Briana Waters, 32, of Berkeley, Calif., is accused of working with an Earth Liberation Front cell to torch the UW facility in what they thought would be a blow against genetic engineering of plants. The fire destroyed years of botanical research. The UW spent $7 million to rebuild the center.

U.S. District Judge Franklin Burgess of Tacoma previously had ruled against motions brought by Waters' lawyer, Robert Bloom, including ones in which he asserts that two federal prosecutors and two FBI agents committed perjury and obstruction of justice to try to hide evidence that he says favors Waters.

In Monday's order denying Bloom's request last week for a conference to discuss his allegations, Burgess was terse: "Nothing in defendant Waters' assertions about the timing and content of the FBI agents' 302s (interview reports) convinces the court to conclude that there has been misconduct, intentional failure to disclose (exculpatory information), production of a fraudulent 302, or untimely production of" evidence to the defense. Burgess' order also explicitly rejects allegations of misconduct on the part of prosecutors, saying those allegations are "not supported" by Bloom's submission to the court. Burgess also suggests that Bloom "jump(ed) to the conclusion" that the government had committed fraud against his client and the court.

The two FBI agents Burgess cleared, Anthony Torres and Ted Halla, had no comment.

But First Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Bartlett -- who along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Friedman also was cleared of misconduct by Burgess -- said, "We had every expectation that the claims would be rejected, and I'm not surprised that Judge Burgess rejected them because they were without legal support or factual foundation."

The Waters case is scheduled for trial next month. She faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 35 years if convicted.

Bloom said Monday that he would raise his allegations again at the pretrial conference if Burgess allows it.