Fur Co-op Bombers Avoid Life Sentences

FUR COMMISSION USA PRESS RELEASE, APRIL 29, 1999
Fur Co-op Bombers Avoid Life Sentences
THREE OF SIX MEN charged in the 1997 bombing of the Fur Breeders Co-op in Sandy, Utah, have been adjudged ineligible for life sentences, but convictions will still earn them lengthy prison terms.
A District Judge in Salt Lake City has ruled that Andrew Bishop, 24, Sean Gauschy, 23, and Alex Slack, 23, cannot be sentenced to life for the planting of five bombs – some laced with nails – which hurt no one but caused nearly $1 million of damage.
Federal prosecutor David Schwendiman had asked Judge Thomas Greene to consider giving Bishop and Gauschy life, arguing they should be charged with four separate counts of using explosives. Federal law allows enhanced terms when explosives are used: a minimum of 30 years for cases involving one bomb, life for two or more.
“The government’s position is they were separate offenses,” Schwendiman said (Associated Press, Apr. 9). Otherwise, he asserted, people charged with multiple crimes like drug deals could also claim they only committed a single crime.
But Greene ruled on Apr. 28 that the multiple bombings should be consolidated as “one violent episode” (AP, Apr. 30), for which the defendants could be charged with only one count. However, he also rejected a motion by defense attorney Fred Metos that the bombing charges be treated as a single incident.
Schwendiman said the ruling may be appealed in light of special considerations within the US 10th Circuit (which includes Utah and Oklahoma) because of the Oklahoma City bombing.
Another defendant, Doug Ellerman, has been sentenced to seven years and two months for helping plant the bombs, and will pay $750,000 in restitution. Brother Clinton is expected to plead guilty to making the bombs. Sixth defendant Adam Peace is charged with attempting to bomb the co-op six days before the actual attack.
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