William Cottrell

Did You Know?

• Cottrell graduated from the University of Chicago in 2002 as a double major in physics and mathematics and competed for the university's Division III cross country team, where he was often called the 'team genius'.
• On 8 September 2009, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Cottrell's arson convictions and sentences, but affirmed the conspiracy conviction and sentence.
• A documentary film on Cottrell titled Standard Deviation won the Emmy for best student documentary at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation's 30th College Television Awards in 2009.
• Cottrell was released from federal custody on August 16, 2011.

SUV arsons

In August 2003, Caltech graduate student William Cottrell and fellow physics student Tyler Johnson talked about putting bumper stickers on SUVs that said "SUV = TERRORISM" to highlight environmental concerns. The FBI later recovered emails in which Cottrell arranged to buy the stickers and, using the alias "Tony Marsden," wrote to the Los Angeles Times about SUV dealership vandalism and residential arsons blamed on the Earth Liberation Front.

Trial

In March 2004, authorities arrested Cottrell after connecting him to emails sent under the name "Tony Marsden." That October, a federal grand jury indicted him for conspiracy to commit arson, several arson counts, and one charge of using a destructive device during a violent crime. During his trial, his defense team noted his Asperger syndrome diagnosis and wanted to bring in expert witnesses on how it influenced his judgment and made him more easily led.

Judge Gary Klausner restricted how much of that evidence could be presented. Cottrell acknowledged he was at the scenes but claimed he never threw any Molotov cocktails. He testified that Johnson planned and executed the fires, and that he himself did not realize arson was the goal. A loose support network grew, spearheaded by the Earth Liberation Front Prisoner's Network and a "Free Billy Cottrell" group.

However, after Cottrell named Johnson as the mastermind, some radical environmental activists pulled their support, criticizing him for cooperating with authorities and publicly distancing themselves from his campaign.

Imprisonment

According to a news report, prison guards labeled Billy a "terrorist" and mistreated him. He was barred from studying physics or Mandarin Chinese, forbidden from teaching calculus to other inmates, and had his books and papers confiscated without explanation. At his October 18, 2006 hearing, a letter signed by Stephen Hawking and other prominent scientists arguing on his behalf was given to prison authorities and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Following this, he was moved to a different federal prison with fewer violent inmates. There, he could finally pursue the previously denied subjects and no longer had a cellmate.