A mother that gives violin lessons will face trial in the northwestern US state of Washington on charges she was an environmental terrorist, prosecutors said. Briana Waters, 30, of the famously liberal California city of Berkeley, has pleaded innocent in a Seattle federal court that she that fire bombed a horticulture center in 2001.
A US district court judge allowed Waters to remain free pending the start of her trial in June, but ordered that she turn in her passport and have her whereabouts monitored electronically.
Waters was the first person charged in connection with an attack that destroyed the Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington in May of 2001, according to Emily Langlie of the US Attorney's Office.
The fire was one of a series of arson attacks in the Pacific west that police believe were committed by militant environmental activists linked to the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front.
"This is just one step as we attempt to bring to justice those responsible for the UW Urban Horticulture fire," said John McKay, United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington.
"As we move toward the five-year anniversary of that devastating blaze, I applaud the investigators who have worked so doggedly and diligently to put the pieces of the puzzle together."
Federal prosecutors indicted 13 people last year in connection with arsons branded as "domestic terror."
Two of those people were part of "an overarching conspiracy" to fire bomb the horticulture center, prosecutors said.
A mother and a self-employed violin teacher, Waters' background included being a "tree-sitter" who perched in branches to save ancient trees from logging.
Waters would face a mandatory minimum punishment of 35 years in prison if convicted as charged with arson and using a destructive device to commit a violent crime.
