Man convicted in anthrax letters hoax [AP... but, was he the author?]

[truthisfreedom]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/12/03/anthrax.hoax.ap/

Man convicted in anthrax letters hoax

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A self-described "terrorist" who told jurors that people who provide abortions should be shot was convicted Wednesday on charges that he mailed envelopes of fake anthrax to women's clinics in an attempt to shut them down.

A federal jury deliberated more than three hours before finding Clayton Waagner guilty on 51 of 53 counts, including the most serious charge: threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Waagner, who once made the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list, could face decades in prison when he is sentenced. He is already serving a 49-year term for car theft and weapons violations.
<snip>
He told jurors he was "tickled" that someone had sent letters containing death threats and white powder to hundreds of clinics in 24 states in 2001.

Waagner added that only his abhorrence for killing prevented him from doing "what I should have done: shooting them, abortionists and clinic workers, in the head."

He acknowledged that he has repeatedly confessed to sending the letters, but suggested he may have only been taking credit falsely for an act he admired.

"Is my story true? That's for you to decide," Waagner said. "I'm not going to stand here and tell you I didn't do it."

<snip>

Authorities said evidence found in the stolen Mercedes he was driving included copies of the death threats, the addresses of the targeted clinics and a detailed log that included entries like, "mailed anthrax" and "faxed FBI bomb threat."
Waagner told jurors he had dedicated his life to disrupting clinics.
"There is no question that I terrorized these people," Waagner said. "Let there be no question, I was doing stuff out there to shut down clinics."
But as to evidence indicating that he sent the letters, Waagner said jurors should find it hard to believe that a ninth-grade dropout like himself could have written them.

To illustrate his point, he turned to his standby attorney as he read one letter aloud and asked for help pronouncing the word "malaise."

[VolcanoJen]

1. Dupe... locking

Please continue discussion within the original LBN thread on this topic, which can be found here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=251340

Thanks!
VolcanoJen
DU Moderator