Federal Appeals Court Overturns Conviction in 2001 Arson at U. of Washington

A federal appeals court has reversed the conviction of a woman accused of taking part in an arson attack that destroyed a horticultural research center at the University of Washington in 2001, The Seattle Times reported. In a unanimous opinion, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the trial of Briana Waters was so riddled with judicial errors that the panel did not believe her conviction was fairly obtained. The decision sends the case back to the the U.S. District Court in Tacoma for a new trial. The attack was one of several claimed by the Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group that federal investigators have designated a terror threat.