Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.) — Jury selection in the death penalty case of confessed Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz lapsed into disarray after potential jurors allegedly mouthed expletives and threats to the defendant in the courtroom and the presiding judge admitted committing a legal error that nearly derailed the process.
Just days after Judge Elizabeth Scherer granted a motion by prosecutors to scrap jury selection in the high profile case and start from scratch, she reversed her order on Wednesday upon hearing a counter argument from Cruz’s lawyers. The case began on April 4 in Broward County, Florida.
Scherer admitted that she made an error back on April 5, the second day of jury selection, when she asked would-be jurors if they could follow the law if picked to serve on the case and then dismissed 11 who said they could not.
David Weinstein, a former federal and state prosecutor in Florida, told ABC News on Thursday that Scherer made a mistake by asking the question. He said her inquiries in the initial phase of jury selection should have been limited to questions about whether the potential jurors had a hardship that prevented them from serving on the case, which is expected to last four to six months.
“That was all that they were supposed to be inquiring into,” said Weinstein, who is not involved in the case but is following it closely.
He said the more probing questions like the one the judge asked should have been reserved for the voir dire phase of jury selection, when prosecutors and defense attorneys are given the chance to grill jury candidates on their answers.
“Each side is given the opportunity to rehabilitate you, to ask, ‘When you said you couldn’t follow the law, did you really understand what the judge was asking you? What do you mean you can’t follow the law?'” Weinstein said.
Defense attorneys filed a motion accusing the court of committing double jeopardy and asked that the death penalty phase of the case be declared a mistrial and that Cruz be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
To remedy her mistake, Scherer reversed her earlier ruling and ordered that the 11 jurors she dismissed to be summoned back to court on Monday so lawyers can question them about their answers.
In her earlier ruling, Scherer also said she was dismissing the 243 would-be jurors who had already been qualified for a pool to seat the jury from. That decision has also been reversed.
Scherer said 20 jurors, including eight alternates, will eventually be chosen to recommend whether the 23-year-old Cruz, who has pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, will be sentenced to death or to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The judge’s mistake wasn’t the only controversy to erupt this week in the case.
On Tuesday, a potential juror disrupted the proceedings when he entered the courtroom and allegedly mouthed expletives and threats to Cruz, who was seated at the defense table. The outburst apparently inspired other would-be jurors in the courtroom to make similar threats to Cruz and prompted bailiffs to press Cruz against a wall to protect him.
Scherer described that particular group of jury candidates as “belligerent” and dismissed them all.
Cruz pleaded guilty in October to committing the 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. During the hearing attended by loved ones of the 17 he killed, Cruz said he wished it was up to the survivors of the shooting to determine whether he lived or died.
“I’m very sorry for what I did,” Cruz said at his plea hearing. “I can’t live with myself sometimes.”
(NEW YORK) — A new red flag warning has been issued from Nevada to Oklahoma where 60 mph winds and very dry conditions could create a dangerous fire situation.
The Southwest will continue to be hammered by gusty winds until the end of the week.
The critical fire weather in the Southwest continues with red flag warnings in effect across seven states from Nevada to Texas. Dry airmass remains in place across the region with relative humidity in the single digits and surface winds 20 mph or higher; isolated gusts could reach to 60 mph.
A cold blast brought wind chills in the teens and 20s from the Midwest to the Northeast Thursday morning.
Another cold morning is expected on Friday in the Northeast, with winter-like conditions expected.
The weather will be warmer in the Northeast over the weekend.
Gusty winds and a cold air mass across the Northeast region will make it feel like temps are in the 20s and 30s.
These dry gusty winds are elevating fire danger across parts of the Northeast Friday, with red flag warnings in effect from Delaware to Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia and much of New Jersey.
A new storm system is headed into the Heartland on Friday with severe weather possible, including tornadoes, from Northern Texas to Nebraska, with an enhanced risk in place just north of Oklahoma City, across eastern Kansas and into southeastern Nebraska.
Oklahoma City, Wichita and Tulsa are some of the cities in the bull’s-eye for possible tornadoes and huge hail.
This severe weather threat moves east into the Midwest by Saturday.
Paducah, St. Louis and just south of Chicago are the areas in the bull’s-eye for damaging winds, large hail and isolated tornados on Saturday.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump said his head of security “did nothing wrong” during a 2015 protest at Trump Tower at which five Hispanic men allege they were assaulted.
Trump called the protesters “troublemakers” during a deposition last October, according to a transcript made public Wednesday in Bronx Supreme Court, where Trump, his campaign, and his head of security, Keith Schiller, are being sued by Efrain Galicia and other demonstrators who say they were “violently attacked” during a protest over Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric.
“I think they were troublemakers, yes I do. I think they were,” Trump said of the plaintiffs during the deposition.
“He did nothing wrong,” Trump said of Schiller. “He went out — I didn’t know about it — but he went out, he heard there was a disturbance and he went out.”
Video of the altercation showed Schiller smacking a protester in the face after he appeared to reach for a sign that said “Trump: Make America Racist Again.”
“And he went out, he took the sign down. He then walked away. And he was attacked from behind, and they tried to get his gun. I don’t even know if he was carrying a gun. But if he was, they were obviously trying to get it,” Trump said.
Trump denied having any knowledge of the protests in real time, despite attorneys for the demonstrators saying they have evidence to the contrary.
Toward the end of the deposition the questioning turned to a 2016 Trump campaign event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, during which Trump told the crowd, “If you see someone getting ready to throw a tomato, just knock the crap out of them, would you?”
The plaintiffs’ attorney asked whether Trump meant to incentivize the crowd to engage in violence.
“No,” Trump replied. “I wanted to have people be ready because we were put on alert that they were going to do fruit. And some fruit is a lot worse than — tomatoes are bad, by the way.”
Trump said it would be OK with him for his security to use force to stop someone from throwing fruit.
“To stop somebody from throwing pineapples, tomatoes, bananas, stuff like that — yeah, it’s dangerous stuff,” Trump said, according to the transcript.
(GILBERT, Ariz.) — The winning ticket for the $473.1 million Powerball jackpot was sold in Arizona, officials said.
Just a single ticket claimed the grand prize — which has a cash value of $271.9 million — after matching all six numbers in Wednesday night’s drawing. The winning white ball numbers were 11, 36, 61, 62 and 68, and the Powerball number was 4.
Lottery officials said that due to strong ticket sales, the jackpot climbed past the estimate of $454 million that was announced after Monday night’s drawing had no winner.
“This is the biggest ever jackpot won on a single ticket in our state and it is a life-changing moment for this winner,” Arizona Lottery Executive Director Gregg Edgar said in a statement. “It also means millions of dollars to our state’s economy, to this winner’s community, and to the vital programs and services funded by Arizona Lottery ticket sales.”
The winning ticket was sold at a QuikTrip in Gilbert, according to the Arizona Lottery. No one has come forward yet to claim the prize, according to Arizona Lottery spokesperson John Turner Gilliland, who noted that people usually take a few days “to get their affairs in order first.” The winner, who can elect to remain anonymous, has 180 days to come forward.
The winner can either accept an estimated annuity of $473.1 million — which is paid in 30 graduated payments over 29 years — or a lump sum payment of $283.3 million. Both values are before federal and state taxes.
Beyond the jackpot, more than 1.4 million tickets won cash prizes in Wednesday night’s drawing, including a $1 million winner in Indiana who matched all five white balls, Powerball officials said.
This marks the third time this year the Powerball jackpot has been won. In January, two tickets sold in California and Wisconsin split a grand prize of $632.6 million — the seventh-largest jackpot ever. In February, a ticket sold in Connecticut won a $185.3 million jackpot.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball officials. The overall odds of winning a prize in the game are 1 in 24.9.
(WASHINGTON) — The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday a proposed ban on menthol cigarettes and all flavors in cigars, a move that could further drive down smoking rates in the U.S.
The FDA will solicit comments from the public before finalizing the rule, a process that could take years. But advocates say it’s a step in the right direction, pointing to one research model that estimated banning these flavors could lead to a 15% decline in tobacco use by 2026.
Smoking is the main cause of lung cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the U.S., menthol cigarettes represent over a third of cigarette sales, with almost 19 million users. Black Americans have disproportionately high rates of menthol smoking, a consequence of years of racially targeted advertising.
In fact, 85% of Black smokers use menthol cigarettes compared to 30% of white smokers, according to the FDA. Moreover, other groups have been successfully targeted with various marketing strategies including young people, women, low-income and LGBTQ communities, according to Dr. Andrea Villanti, associate professor in the Department of Health Behavior, Society and Policy at Rutgers School of Public Health and deputy director of the Center for Tobacco studies.
Menthol added to cigarettes and cigars results in a cooling effect when inhaling smoke, said Villanti.
“It actually dampens any sort of respiratory response to smoke being an irritant. So it kind of makes the smoke go down easier,” she explained. “Especially for a young person or someone who hasn’t used the product before.”
She added, “[Menthol] helps people start, it makes it harder to quit.”
Menthol cigarette smokers, especially Black American smokers, are less likely to successfully quit smoking compared to non-menthol cigarette smokers, according to an FDA report. Robin Koval, CEO and president of Truth Initiative, a nonprofit public health organization committed to tobacco cessation, said nearly half of Black smokers would try to quit if there was a rule banning menthol.
Multiple countries and governing bodies, including the European Union, Canada, Brazil, Ethiopia, and Turkey, as well as some U.S. states and municipalities, including Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., already have menthol bans in effect.
Canada, which banned menthol cigarettes in 2017, is already seeing effects. Research led by a team at the University of Toronto found high levels of quitting behavior in menthol smokers, with 24% of daily menthol smokers quitting by one year and 12% by two years.
“The Canadian experience shows that removing menthol and other additives from cigarettes is certainly feasible,” said Dr. Michael Chaiton, associate professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
According to Chaiton, a U.S. ban is “likely to save hundreds of thousands of lives.”
But in the U.S., the menthol and other flavor ban won’t take effect overnight. The rule-making process and implementation of the ban could take up to several years, according to Kevin Schroth, an associate professor at the Rutgers University Center for Tobacco Studies.
During this time, education and good communication to the public will be important to “reduce misperceptions about the goal of the ban,” according to Vallanti, as well as provide the resources for patients to quit.
“Tobacco companies are the target … not communities,” said Vallanti.
Koval said a comprehensive ban that includes not only menthol cigarettes but flavored cigars as well would reduce “loophole” options in getting around the ban.
Because youth and Black Americans are the primary smokers of menthol and other flavors, a ban “has the potential to improve health equity,” said Vallanti.
“Taking flavors off the market, overall, will prevent the initiation of another generation into becoming addicted to nicotine and lifelong customers of the tobacco industry,” Koval said. “Eliminating menthol cigarettes will have significant effects on health, especially for populations … who are most vulnerable: young people, people of color.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden formally asked Congress on Thursday for $33 billion in supplemental aid for Ukraine over the next five months to help counter Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion over the long term.
“The cost of this fight is not cheap. But caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen,” Biden said. “It’s critical this funding gets approved and approved as quickly as possible.”
“We’re not attacking Russia. We’re helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression,” he added. “And just as Putin chose to launch this brutal invasion, he could make the choice to end it, this brutal invasion. Russia is the aggressor, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Russia is the aggressor, and the world must and will hold Russia accountable.”
Biden said the supplemental budget request will allow weapons and ammunition to flow “without interruption to the brave Ukrainian fighters” and the U.S. to continue delivering economic and humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainian people, whom he said are paying the real price of this fight with their lives.
Over $20 billion of the $33 billion would be for military and other security systems, the White House said. Biden is also asking for an additional $8.5 billion in economic assistance to help provide basic services to the Ukrainian people and $3 billion in humanitarian assistance and food security funding.
Part of the package also includes targeted funding to address economic disruptions in the U.S. as a result of the war in Ukraine, like helping increase U.S. production of wheat and soybeans, “and funding to allow the use of the Defense Production Act to expand domestic production of critical reserves — of reserves of critical minerals and materials that have been disrupted by Putin’s war and are necessary to make everything from defense systems to cars,” a senior administration official said ahead of Biden’s remarks.
Biden said he was also sending lawmakers another comprehensive package to enhance our effort to sanction Russian oligarchs and “take their ill-begotten gains.”
As billions in additional COVID funding remains stalled in Congress, asked if that funding should be tied to the Ukraine aid, Biden said, “I don’t care how they do it — I’m sending them both up.”
(GULFPORT, Miss.) — Four people were gunned down across two neighboring Mississippi cities Wednesday morning, allegedly by the same gunman, according to police.
The first shooting was reported at about 9:11 a.m. Wednesday at a Broadway Inn Express motel in Biloxi, police said.
Three victims — two men and one woman — were found dead at the scene, police said.
They were identified by the coroner’s office as Mohammad Moeini, 51, Chad Green, 55, and Laura Lehman, 61.
The suspect, 32-year-old Jeremy Reynolds, allegedly fled the motel in one of the victim’s cars and drove to nearby Gulfport, police said.
The second shooting — which left 52-year-old William Waltman dead — was reported in Gulfport at about 9:27 a.m. Wednesday, according to Gulfport police and the coroner’s office.
Witnesses said Reynolds fled that scene in a stolen car belonging to the city of Gulfport, police said.
Police tracked down the car and said Reynolds fled on foot to a convenience store. Two employees escaped the store as Reynolds barricaded himself inside, police said.
After multiple attempts to contact him, a SWAT team entered the store where they found Reynolds dead inside “from unknown circumstances,” police said. His autopsy has not been conducted yet, according to the coroner’s office.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military earlier this month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 28, 8:00 am
Russia retains ability to strike Ukrainian coastal targets, UK says
The Russian Navy still has the ability to strike coastal targets in Ukraine, even after the “embarrassing losses” of two warships, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense.
In an intelligence update posted Thursday, the ministry said approximately 20 Russian naval vessels, including submarines, are currently in the “Black Sea operational zone.” But the ministry said Russia isn’t able to replace the missile cruiser Moskva because the Bosphorus strait remains closed to all non-Turkish warships.
The Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, sunk in the Black Sea earlier this month while being towed to port after a fire onboard, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Ukrainian officials, however, claimed that ship was struck by Ukrainian missiles, which the Russian defense ministry has denied.
Russia also lost the landing ship Saratov, which was destroyed by explosions and fire on March 24.
Apr 28, 6:48 am
Separatist forces arrest over 100 captured Ukrainian troops in Donetsk
Russia-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast claimed Thursday that they have arrested more than 100 captured Ukrainian troops suspected of being involved in crimes.
“Facts of involvement in crimes have been brought to light following investigators’ works. There are already more than 100 people who have been arrested by investigators,” Yury Sirovatko, justice minister of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, told Russian state-owned television channel Rossiya 24 on Thursday.
Sirovatko on Wednesday told Channel One, a Russian state-controlled TV channel, that there are about 2,600 captured Ukrainian servicemen in the region.
Apr 28, 5:01 am
Russia accuses Ukraine of war crimes
Russia on Thursday accused Ukraine of committing war crimes by indiscriminately attacking civilian areas in Ukrainian cities.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces “launched a massive attack” using ballistic missiles and multiple rocket launchers on residential areas of Kherson in southern Ukraine late Wednesday.
“The indiscriminate missile attack launched by the nationalists targeted kindergartens, schools and various social facilities in residential areas near Ushakova avenue,” the ministry said in a statement Thursday. “Russian air defense units have repelled the attack of the Ukrainian troops launched at the residential districts of Kherson.”
The ministry also claimed that Ukrainian troops had launched indiscriminate attacks on residential areas of Izyum in eastern Ukraine.
“The Kyiv nationalist regime’s indiscriminate attacks on residential areas of Izyum and Kherson are a war crime and a gross violation of international humanitarian law,” the ministry added.
Ukraine did not immediately respond to the allegations.
Apr 28, 4:55 am
Putin ramps up nuclear threats, as US weapons head to Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin hinted at the possibility of nuclear warfare during his Wednesday address to the council of legislators.
“If someone from outside moves to interfere in the current developments, they should know that they will indeed create strategic threats to Russia, which are unacceptable to us, and they should know that our response to encounter assaults will be instant, it will be quick,” Putin said, according to Russian state media.
Putin claimed Russia’s response to strategic threats from outside Ukraine would be “immediate.”
“We have all the tools to do it, tools that others can’t boast of at the moment, but as for us, we won’t be boasting,” Putin said.
Putin said that Russia is prepared to use those “tools” if “the need arises,” adding that he “would like everyone to be aware of it.” A nuclear attack has been on the table since the onset of the “special military operation” in Ukraine, Putin said. He had ordered his nuclear forces to be put on high alert on Feb 27.
Putin’s remarks came as Pentagon press secretary John Kirby announced that “more than half” of the 90 howitzers the U.S. agreed to send to Ukraine were now in the country, adding that around 50 Ukrainian troops have already been trained to operate the weapons.
“We finished up earlier this week, the first tranche of more than 50 trainers that are going to go in and train their teammates,” Kirby said during a press briefing on Wednesday, a moment later adding, “But there was another tranche of more than 50 that we’re going to go through training in the same location outside Ukraine.”
The U.S. Department of Defense on Wednesday tweeted pictures of more howitzers “bound for Ukraine” that were being loaded onto US Air Force aircraft. Additional training opportunities on Howitzers and other weapons systems were also being explored, Kirby said.
As U.S. weapons head to Ukraine, Russia is increasing the pace of its offensive in almost all directions, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Thursday.
The U.S. is considering the legal aspects of officially listing Russia as a state-sponsor of terrorism, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told lawmakers on Wednesday. Officials said they haven’t yet determined whether Russia’s actions meet the legal standard required for the designation, Blinken said.
The designation, called for by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, would further cripple Russia’s trade potential, including bans on defense exports and limits on foreign aid.
(NEW YORK) — The vaccine company Moderna on Thursday announced it submitted its request for the Food and Drug Administration to authorize its vaccine for children ages 6 months to 6 years, marking a hopeful development in the long journey for parents who are desperate to get their young kids vaccinated.
“I think for these little children, they really represent an unmet medical need,” Paul Burton, chief medical officer for Moderna, told ABC News. “I would be hopeful that the review will go on quickly and rigorously — but if it’s approvable, this will be made available to these little children as quickly as possible.”
Once the FDA reviews the data, it will call a meeting of its independent panel of advisors to publicly discuss the safety and efficacy of the vaccine before taking a vote. The FDA would then take the panel’s consensus into account and decide whether to authorize the vaccine.
After that, the process heads to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for its advisors to review the data and for the CDC director to recommend the vaccine to the public.
But questions remain about how soon the FDA will be able to authorize Moderna’s vaccine, and whether regulators would prefer to review it alongside Pfizer’s vaccine, which is expected to be submitted for review in the coming weeks.
Dr. Peter Marks, who oversees vaccines for the FDA, said on Tuesday that the FDA would put out a timeline for the review within the next week.
Marks couldn’t clarify whether the FDA would review both vaccines together or not until the agency had seen the data from the companies, but said that the FDA would move “quickly” once that data is in. Burton, with Moderna, stressed that kids under 5 currently have no vaccine options.
“I think every day that [kids] are without a vaccine is obviously another day that somebody can get infected, can get hospitalized. So I would hope that, you know, they can move as quickly as possible,” Burton said.“Typically, they seem to take about a month, so I’d be hopeful for that kind of timeline, but you know, they’ll do the very best job necessary.”
Moderna, which is a two-shot vaccine, is different from Pfizer’s vaccine, which is a three-shot vaccine, and because Pfizer hasn’t finished gathering its data yet, it’s not yet clear which shot will be more effective.
Moderna’s data, which is in, found that the shots generated a strong immune response with no significant risks found. The vaccine generated an antibody response roughly equivalent to the antibody response seen in adults, the company said.
At the same time, experts have questioned the low efficacy numbers against infection. During the omicron surge, two doses of the vaccine were roughly 51% effective against COVID-19 infection, including asymptomatic and mild infections, for children 6 months to 2 years old, and 37% effective among kids 2 years to 6 years old.
But Burton defended the vaccine’s efficacy against infection, arguing that omicron led to more breakthrough infections, but that the shot produced an antibody response that was even stronger in the young kids than it was in the 18- to 24-year-olds.
“I think moms and dads and caregivers, doctors and nurses should be reassured by this result,” Burton said.
“The antibody levels that we saw here were high, and we can translate that to what we see in adults where we get really good protection against severe disease and hospitalization,” he said.
Asked about Moderna’s plan for a third shot for kids, which would then put it on par with Pfizer, which is planning on submitting data for a three-shot vaccine, Burton said that Moderna intends to give children a booster with a variant-specific vaccine in the fall or winter, if a booster is necessary.
“We’re working on a variant-specific booster, we released some data a couple of weeks ago. We’re still working on even another booster candidate that will cover omicron, as well as the original virus. And if these little kids do need an additional booster, I think that’s the one that we would likely offer them in the fall or winter,” Burton said.
The company is currently testing boosters across all age groups.
But Burton said he was confident in the two-dose regimen Moderna is putting before the FDA.
“If these children need an additional booster dose, a third dose later in the winter, we’ll have those data on hand and we can discuss that with regulators then, but I think everybody can be well reassured of the result here,” Burton said.
None of the children in the Moderna study became severely sick, so the company was unable to provide an efficacy estimate for its ability to prevent severe illness.
Pfizer is expected to submit its data in the coming weeks. The company’s CEO, Anthony Bourla, said in a recent interview that he expected authorization sometime in June. Many experts expect the vaccine to be strong because data has consistently shown more immunity from third shots, or boosters, in adults.
For parents, the authorization of vaccines for the youngest population in the country has been a stressful, arduous wait.
The expected timeline for shots has slipped twice in the past year.
While children 5 and older have had a vaccine since the fall, younger kids have weathered the delta and the omicron waves without them. And a lot of them are too young to wear masks, which experts only recommend for kids over 2.
A CDC report on Tuesday revealed that the lack of vaccination has made young kids a bigger target for the virus. Around 75% of kids and adolescents under 17 have had COVID, according to a nationwide study — the highest percentage of people who’ve had COVID-19 of all the age groups.
Still, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said it’s vital for everyone, including children, to get vaccinated when they’re eligible, regardless of prior infection.
“Those who have detectable antibodies from prior infection, we still continue to encourage them to get vaccinated,” Walensky said.
“We don’t know … when that infection was, we don’t know whether that protection has waned. We don’t know as much about that level of protection than we do about the protection we get from both vaccines and boosters,” Walensky said.
(NEW YORK) — In the fall of 2016, under the cover of darkness, Jessica Reznicek had a singular focus: to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. At valve sites across America’s heartland, she snuck through security fences, set fire to equipment, and used chemicals to burn holes in the pipeline itself.
To Reznicek, a veteran climate activist, the damage was justified: a nonviolent act of civil disobedience in pursuit of saving the planet. The Justice Department saw it differently. After Reznicek publicly acknowledged her crimes and entered a guilty plea, federal prosecutors subsequently persuaded a judge to apply a sentencing increase known as the “terrorism enhancement” against her, putting her behind bars for eight years.
The enhancement was applied “even though no person was ever hurt, no person was intended to be hurt, she wasn’t charged with terrorism, and she didn’t plead guilty to terrorism,” said Bill Quigley, Reznicek’s attorney and a professor emeritus at the Loyola University New Orleans Law School. “The terrorism enhancement doubled her amount of time in prison, which is troubling.”
Next month, when a panel of 8th Circuit Court of Appeals judges hears Reznicek’s appeal, the terrorism enhancement will take center stage. Her case has emerged as a potential watershed moment in the eco-extremism movement, galvanizing free-speech advocates and renewing calls for reform. And the outcome could reverberate down through future American protest movements.
Most frequently used against violent extremists or those with ties to foreign terrorist organizations, the terrorism enhancement is praised by national security officials and prosecutors as an effective tool of deterrence — a stiff penalty meant to discourage others from engaging in similar behavior. But critics say the use of the enhancement against Reznicek reflects a broader push from the powerful oil industry to level harsh penalties against activists who target energy infrastructure.
At a time when domestic violent extremism is on the rise, experts say Reznicek’s appeal presents a fresh opportunity to reexamine how terrorism cases are prosecuted — and who deserves to be labeled a terrorist.
Iowa homecoming
Long before Reznicek committed herself to a life of environmental activism, the Iowa native felt a deep connection to nature. In an interview with ABC News’ Iowa affiliate, WOI-TV, shortly after her sentencing, Reznicek described a childhood spent swimming in a local river, which she called her sanctuary.
“I’ve carried that love with me all my life,” she said. “And I’ve also witnessed that desecration and the pollution that has occurred during my lifetime.”
She described a spiritual calling that eventually led her to fight the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, an oil conduit that would eventually run more than 1,000 miles from North Dakota to Illinois. Beginning in April 2016, thousands of Native American and environmental activists gathered to protest the project. Over time, Reznicek’s actions grew increasingly dangerous.
“I entered the valve sites multiple times in multiple locations on multiple days,” Reznicek told WOI. “Each time, there was a process of preparation for that, knowing full well what the legal consequences were.”
In public and in court, Reznicek admitted to her actions — which included setting fire to multiple construction vehicles — and encouraged others to follow suit. She never hurt another person and said she never targeted human life. But her actions led to a delay in the pipeline’s construction and more than $3 million in damages.
“Everybody’s afraid of these environmental groups and fear that it might look bad if you fight back with these people,” said Kelcy Warren, CEO OF Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, during a cable news appearance in August 2017. “But what they did to us is wrong, and they are going to pay for it.”
In February 2021, prosecutors secured a guilty plea from Reznicek on one felony count of conspiracy to damage an energy facility. Reznicek said she was prepared to serve time in prison, but she and her legal team expected “somewhere in the neighborhood of three or four years,” according to Quigley.
Reznicek’s aggressive brand of protest proved legally perilous: in June 2021, a federal judge handed her a hefty prison sentence and a damning new label: domestic terrorist.
Section 3A 1.4: The terrorism enhancement
In the wake of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Congress enacted tougher penalties to intentionally deter acts of “intimidation or coercion” aimed at the government or civilian population. In the 1990s and early 2000s, multiple individuals associated with groups like the Earth Liberation Front faced terrorism-related sentences in connection with a string of arsons, including one that burned down a planned ski resort in Vail, Colorado.
“When an individual or group of individuals use an explosive device and incendiary device, engage in tight acts of targeted violence, they have crossed the line,” said John Cohen, an ABC News contributor and former senior official in the Department of Homeland Security, describing the intention of the harsher penalties.
“They should expect — regardless of how noble their cause — that they will be investigated, arrested, prosecuted, and, if convicted, incarcerated as terrorists,” Cohen said.
But critics complain that the law is too broad and too inconsistently applied. Terrorism sentences have historically been used against defendants with ties to ISIS or al-Qaida, or to violent domestic extremists like Cesar Sayoc, who was convicted in 2018 for mailing pipe bombs to members of Congress.
Notably, prosecutors did not seek terrorism enhancements in several other high-profile cases. Neither Dylann Roof, who pled guilty to massacring nine people at a Charleston bible study, nor James Fields, who was convicted of killing a Charlottesville demonstrator with his car, were sentenced with the terrorism enhancement.
“While [prosecutors] try to be consistent, they’ll try to be fair, obviously, there’s going to be different jurisdictions, different groups,” DOJ federal prosecutor Joe Moreno told ABC News. “And ultimately, you’re never going to get a system where it’s uniformly applied everywhere.”
More recently, of the 140 defendants sentenced to date in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, none have faced terrorism charges or sentences.
“In the court of common sense, individuals who went into the Capitol to engage in destructive behavior for the purposes of impeding congressional action and certifying the vote are, by its very definition, engaged in terrorism,” Cohen said. “Unfortunately, under our current legal environment, it may not meet the elements of a terrorism offense.”
Civil rights groups say prosecutors and judges have increasingly branded eco-saboteurs as terrorists, even as some resist applying that label in other more violent cases.
“I believe 100% that this is an overreach of power,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. “And it is absolutely imperative that we put guidelines in place.”
Spotlight on Big Oil
Markey and other climate supporters say the oil and gas industry has spent years trying to silence opposition, lobbying state and federal lawmakers to enact tougher rules for protesters and increasing penalties for trespassing, damage and destruction at critical infrastructure sites.
“What the oil and gas industry wants is for these protesters to be charged as eco-terrorists, so that they are sentenced to longer time in prison as a deterrent against legitimate civil disobedience,” Markey said. “And that’s wrong.”
In the last five years, 17 states have adopted so-called critical infrastructure protection laws that do just that — and 40 additional bills are pending across the country, including a federal one.
“These laws introduced extraordinary penalties,” said Elly Page, a senior legal adviser at the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law. “Protesters who even momentarily cross onto property that contains a pipeline … can now face multiple years in prison.”
“They’re discouraging people from turning out and have making their voices heard about what’s really the crisis of our time — the climate crisis,” Page said.
In 2017, 80 Republican and four Democratic members of Congress — who over the course of their careers received a combined $36 million in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry — pressed the Justice Department to treat all eco-saboteurs as domestic terrorists.
The Department of Homeland Security later grouped some environmental activists — the so-called pipeline “valve turners” — with mass killers and white supremacists in a description of domestic threats, according to internal documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the nonprofit group Property of the People.
Meanwhile, Reznicek is in her first year behind bars as she prepares for her upcoming appeal of her sentence’s terrorism enhancement. The Justice Department has argued that Reznicek’s full sentence should remain in place, and that the evidence shows her conduct was targeting the government.
Supporters hope that a favorable outcome could set a new precedent for how activists are treated under the law. Quigley said that Reznicek’s case will be watched closely by those involved in other American protest movements.
“Nuclear, civil rights, Black Lives Matter and others … see this as a really hyper criminalization of consequences for people who protest,” he said.
Moreno agreed that there’s a lot on the line beyond Reznicek’s prison term.
“It’s going to be a difficult uphill battle for her” to get the sentencing enhancement removed, Moreno said. “But if she is able to make that distinction, it would be a very significant one in how these cases are approached.”
