News & Events

Joyanne Zacher and Nathan Block Denied Bail

June 1, 2006

Joyanna and Nathan were denied release in front of Judge Coffin. Below, please find my complete notes regarding information disclosed at the hearing.

Of note, Jake Ferguson's lawyer, Ed Spinney sat in the audience to watch this hearing. Judge Coffin started by indicating he had rec'd a revised 6/1 pretrial report recommending detention in light of new info provided from the feds. Both feds and defendants also filed supplemental materials since the 5/30 hearing. Judge indicated pretrial report stated that there are 3 cooperating witnesses who have stated that D's (hereinafter referring to Joyanna and Nathan) participated in spiking 125 trees in 39 acres with nails and spikes, some of them then covered with moss. Judge indicated the D's were described as being willing to participate in increased violence according to their codefendants and that the D's were close associates of Bill Rodgers who killed himself in jail. Co-d's told the feds that D's and Rodgers conducted target practice together.

Storkel, Nathan's attorney, wanted Engdall to go first, so he did. Engdall indicated: he will focus on escalation of violence by these D's and discuss the Judie timber sale spiking. Five cooperating co-conspirators specified that Block was closely associated w/ Avalon. According to one female co-D who has known Avalon for about 10 years (read: Chelsea G) has stated that Avalon had a philosophy of violence and that another female co-conspirator (read: Susan S.) told them during the winter/january 2001 bookclub meeting a philosophical discussion took place about escalating the use of violence and targeting of researchers for assassination. Avalon had a conversation w/ a co-conspirator where he advocated assassination by motorcycle drive-by shooting of targets.

After the Jefferson Poplar and UW arsons, a meeting took place in Olympia at the home of Block. Avalon helped Block set up a marijuana grow. A Female co-conspirator (CG or SS) told feds that Avalon and othes believed in hurting people for the greater good. Female co-c (SS) stated that Joy and Nathan admitted shooting w/ Avalon while she (SS) was visiting them in Olympia. At the final meeting of the bookclub in 2001 talk was of escalation of violence, feds indicate Joy and Nathan were there, but cannot credit them w/ any statements about violence at all.

Engdall then hands up ex. 20 (which sharp moves to seal subsequently) which appears to be a letter written by Joy to an exboyfriend. They claim the letter shows she has significant mental health issues, talked of a troubled and abusive relationship w/ Nathan (completely untrue according to both) and that she was suicidal.

The trial then moved onto the Judie timber sale tree spiking of 2/20/01, which took place after the Monsanto GE wheat action of 8/00 and before the OSU GE action of 3/01 (this is most likely all from Suzanne Savoie informing). The group is said to have used a female cooperating codefendants truck for the action. They each carried a backpack full of spikes from 8-10" long where they spiked trees all day long. hard work. Evidence found by investigators in units 6 &8 near Cottage Grove, Oregon, includes some spikes which were obvious and others which were not. Some were covered by moss to avoid detection. Most were located from ground level to 7 ft. Some of the spike heads were clipped to hinder removal or detection.

After the action, the group including Joy and Nathan went to a cooperating co-defendants fathers residence where they sat in his hot tub after their hard day of work. Subsequently, after the defense attorneys spoke, Engdall had to admit that a communique was issued that specifically warned which units were spiked, how they were spiked and stated that it was now up to Senaca Jones and its accomplices the Forest Service to protect the safety of their workers. signed by the ELF.

Nathan's attorney, Storkel, then spoke about nicknames; no evidence of plot to kill or shoot; and 5 yrs gone by when nothing happened. He mentioned the feds have lots of bad stuff on Avalon, but nothing specifically about Joy and Nathan. He also stated that Nathan has a personal philosophy to never harm humans. He later made some statements about how young Nathan was, to which judge interjected that they were all so young which is the tragedy in these cases.

Bill Sharp, Joy's attorney, focused on the 5th amendment and due process clause as well as bail reform act. overall he did a good job; focused on how long the D's knew of the December arrests and stayed where they were. They were arrested at home w/out weapons, used their true names, and never hid. He also asserted that Suzanne Savoie has admitted to the tree spiking and she is on release (Coffin interjected that he did not hear anything about spiking at the time of her release, which is true. She is the one that disclosed that information to the feds after her release).

Sharp then discussed that the feds had mentioned that McGowan set the "gold standard", and that although he wishes McGowan the best and wishes him no ill will, McGowan used three aliases, was active in environmental activism until his arrest, and made a statement about flight to canada. He then pointed out that Joy and Nathan did not have those issues and are only alleged to have been involved for 1/2 of 2001 and don't know hardly any of the co-d's. And no harm to human life did actually occur.

Coffin interjected about a vietnam era arson at the University of Wisconsin where a graduate student was working in a building believed to be vacant when bomb was set and student was killed.

Engdall now assertsed that Nathan's other nickname is Hasam (sp?) and that in arabic, hasa (?) means assassin or killer...

Coffin then states that D's supporters allege that feds are being too harsh and overcharging while the feds allege the D's are ecoterrorists. He believes these are arson cases pure and simple. Whether it was a planned parenthood clinic, a southern church, or these incidents, they are just like any other arson case: serious offenses, crimes of violence and that it is a tragedy that so many of the D's are so young. He then stated that he beleives that the paramount issue is safety of the community, and he does not believe there are conditions that will ensure the safety of the community and therefore he cannot release the D's.

He went on to state that he believes the crimes were committed to achieve an agenda, not for profit, which does not justify the conduct at issue. and that the D's were acting out of a belief system putting them on the moral high ground causing them to feel that they were above the law in achieve their agenda.

He ended by saying they were free to try and work it out w/ pretrial and they can come back and try again if warranted.