Court overturns Jeff Luers' sentence

The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday overturned the 22-year sentence given to environmental activist Jeffrey Michael Luers for burning three SUVs at the former Romania truck lot and for trying to set fire to the Tyree Oil Co. in Eugene. Court overturns sentence in SUV fire

By Bill Bishop
The Register-Guard
Published: Thursday, February 15, 2007

The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday overturned the 22-year sentence given to environmental activist Jeffrey Michael Luers for burning three SUVs at the former Romania truck lot and for trying to set fire to the Tyree Oil Co. in Eugene.

The court upheld all 10 of Luers' felony convictions from his 2001 trial, but ruled that he was improperly sentenced to back-to-back prison terms in each of the crimes.

Luers, 28, is considered a "political prisoner" among some activists who contend his 22-year, eight-month sentence is disproportionately harsh, considering that no one was injured in either crime and damage to the SUVs was estimated at less than $50,000.
advertisement

The ruling leaves Luers, who already has served six years, facing a total sentence of between 11 years, four months and 13 years, two months, Chief Deputy Lane County District Attorney Alex Gardner said Wednesday.

Luers or the state attorney general may appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court.

If neither side appeals, then the sentence may be settled through negotiations with Luers, Gardner said.

If that fails, the case may be retried on the limited issues that would determine whether the circumstances in the attempted arson at Tyree Oil were egregious enough to warrant a stiffer sentence than normally applied to the crime, he said.

Most of Luers' sentence is for first-degree arson, which carries a mandatory 7 1/2 -year prison term, with no reduction for any reason.

Luers, a self-described anarchist, was unapologetic at his sentencing hearing in June 2001. He told Lane County Circuit Judge Lyle Velure that his actions were not callous crimes but were an expression of frustration over the "irreversible damage" being done to the planet for the sake of profit.

Velure told Luers at the sentencing that he was not being punished for his beliefs, but for his actions. Velure, who convicted Luers, is ethically barred from discussing the case.

Luers' co-defendant, Craig Andrew Marshall, 33, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson and possession of a destructive device in the Romania case. He served a little more than four years in prison and is on post-prison supervision in Lane County until January, according to state Department of Corrections records.

Activists are reacting cautiously to Wednesday's ruling to avoid damaging Luers' legal fight, said Lauren Regan, an attorney with the Civil Liberties Defense Center in Eugene. Regan, who represents Luers in matters related to his imprisonment, said she told his parents, who live in California, of the decision. They have not publicly commented on the case.

"They feel optimistic that justice still may come to their son," Regan said.

Luers and Marshall were arrested early on June 17, 2000, minutes after the Romania fire was reported. Eugene police, working undercover, had followed the two from a storage unit where Luers lived and saw the men park near the Romania lot on Franklin Boulevard.

A search warrant at the storage unit found incense sticks, wooden matches, thread and sponges that matched two fire bombs that failed to ignite in late May 2000 at the Tyree Oil depot in the Whiteaker neighborhood. A key piece of evidence against Luers was a bolt cutter found in his storage unit that made cuts identical to those found on a chain link fence at the oil company, according to trial testimony.
advertisement

One of the Tyree fire bombs was placed under the fuel tank of a fume-filled tanker truck. Investigators contended the device could have produced widespread damage had it ignited.

Luers contended the evidence of his involvement at Tyree was circumstantial.

In his appeal, lawyers challenged 10 aspects of the convictions - including his arrest and the legality of the search of the storage unit. The appeals court rejected all the claims except the issue of back-to-back sentencing.

The ruling, written by Appeals Court Judge Darleen Ortega, decided the separate arson convictions in the Romania fire stemmed from the same conduct, and that there were not numerous victims that might otherwise allow separate, back-to-back sentences. The court used the same reasoning in ruling that two attempted arson convictions in the Tyree case should be treated as one.

Lawyer Brian Barnes, who represented Luers in his trial, did not return a reporter's phone message on Wednesday.

No resentencing date has been set.