Militant Animal Rights Group, Six Members Convicted in Campaign to Terrorize Company, Employees and Others

TRENTON, N.J. - A federal jury today convicted a militant animal rights group and six of its members on all counts for their roles in a campaign to terrorize officers, employees and shareholders of a company that used animals for laboratory research and testing, as well as companies that did business with the lab and their employees, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

The stated goal of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) was to drive Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), a publicly traded company based in East Millstone, N.J., out of business through its so-called "direct action" against HLS and individuals that SHAC designated as targets. SHAC directed its campaign largely via its websites, where it posted and applauded acts of extreme harassment, intimidation, vandalism and violence against HLS, its employees and others.

"This is a trial victory of national importance, and this office and law enforcement stepped up to vindicate the rule of law and the rights of the victims of these crimes. It is a proud day for all of us," said Christie. "The convictions defeat the argument that these so-called activists were acting within their rights of free speech under the Constitution. The verdict reveals these individuals for what they really were: thugs who went far beyond protected speech and lawful protest to engage in and incite intimidation, harassment and violence."

"They operated with criminal intent from the shadows of the Internet, knowing what the result of their collaboration and incitement would be," Christie said. "There is no place in a democratic, law-abiding society for extremists who incite or use violence and intimidation as a means to an end."

In its third day of deliberations, following a trial that began with opening arguments on Feb. 7, the jury returned guilty verdicts against SHAC and its main organizers. The case, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles McKenna and Ricardo Solano, was the result of a six-year investigation by the FBI with assistance from the New Jersey State Police.

The verdicts were as follows for each of the defendants (maximum statutory penalties are given further below):

o Stop Huntington Animal Cruelty USA, Inc.: guilty on all six counts - Count One, Conspiracy to violate the Animal Enterprise Protection Act for its campaign to put HLS out of business and terrorize its employees and harass and intimidate other companies doing business with HLS, as well as their employees; guilty on Count Two, Conspiracy to Commit Interstate Stalking; guilty on Counts Three, Four and Five, each charging Interstate Stalking of specific victims; guilty on Count Six, Conspiracy to Use a Telecommunications Device to Abuse, Threaten and Harass Persons;

(Since the defendants were often transient as they worked for the SHAC campaign, most did not maintain consistent addresses.)

U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson, who presided over the trial, ordered the detention of all defendants except Fullmer. Judge Thompson stated that the detained defendants could petition the court for bail as early as tomorrow.

The SHAC websites encouraged and incited SHAC members and followers to direct their intimidation, harassment and violence against HLS and its targeted employees, as well as secondary targets - companies and employees who did business with HLS - in an often successful attempt to get those companies to end their business relationships with HLS.

Testimony from victims revealed that SHAC and its organizers routinely posted personal information on their websites, including the names, addresses and phone numbers of employees of HLS and other targeted companies and their employees. Other information published on the Internet included names of employees' spouses; the names and ages of their children and where the children attended school, even in some instances teachers' names; license plate numbers and churches attended by employees and their families and more.

Victims of the SHAC campaign, several of whom testified at trial, often endured vandalism of their homes in the dark of night, including rocks being thrown through windows, cars being overturned, messages in red paint plastered on their homes and property, unrelenting bullhorn protests in front of their homes and harassment of neighbors.

In compelling testimony from one victim in Texas, an executive with an insurance broker doing business with HLS, she described vandalism to her suburban home, disruptive protests outside her home by SHAC members and other threatening activity. One day, the doorbell rang and, she testified, she went to the door and found her 7-year-old son inside the door crouched down with a kitchen knife, telling her that he would protect her from "the animal people."

Video recordings by SHAC members at one protest outside a victim's residence in Boston showed Gazzola yelling into a bullhorn, with Boston Police standing nearby, saying:

"Where were the police when an HLS worker's car got flipped over in his driveway? Where were the police when a Marsh executive had all his windows smashed in and his house covered in red paint in Chicago? .... And where were the police when your house was covered in red paint a few weeks ago? They can't protect you. Your (court) injunctions can't stop us. We will always find a way around whatever you throw at us."

Acts of violence and vandalism applauded on the SHAC website included:

Part of the stated mission of SHAC was to "operate outside the confines of the legal system," according to their website. SHAC encouraged "direct actions" against HLS, other companies and employees that included its "top 20 terror tactics" to intimidate and harass and to destroy personal and real property, as described on its websites.

The corporate victims of SHAC's campaign included an insurer, financial services and investment firms as well as California, New York and New Jersey pharmaceutical companies.

The "top 20 terror tactics" implicitly encouraged the invading of offices, vandalizing property and stealing documents; physical assault, including spraying cleaning fluid into someone's eyes; smashing windows of a target's home or flooding the home while the individual was away; vandalizing or firebombing cars and bomb hoaxes; and threatening telephone calls or letters, including threats to kill or injure someone's partner or children.

Count One of the Superseding Indictment carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Counts Two through Five, charging conspiracy to engage in interstate stalking, each carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Count Six carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The actual sentences will be determined by Judge Thompson after consulting the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide sentencing ranges based on criminal history, if any, as well as other factors. The guidelines, however, are advisory only, and Judge Thompson can impose a sentence higher or lower than the guideline recommendations.

Christie applauded the tireless work of Special Agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Leslie Wiser, Jr., in Newark, the New Jersey State Police, under the direction of Colonel Rick Fuentes, and the U.S. Attorney's Offices for the District Minnesota and Arkansas and the FBI in Minnesota, Seattle and Little Rock.