New trial ordered in ecoterror case

SEATTLE – A federal appeals court has ordered a new trial for a woman convicted of helping to carry out a 2001 ecoterror attack that destroyed the University of Washington’s Center for Urban Horticulture.

Briana Waters was convicted of arson for allegedly serving as a lookout during the Earth Liberation Front attack. She was sentenced to six years in prison.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday the trial judge made several errors that raised questions about the fairness of her trial.

Prosecutors argued that Waters was connected to a cell of radical environmentalists who carried out attacks throughout the West from 1996 to 2001.