A former North Vancouver woman whose childhood love of animals and the natural world led to involvement with a U.S. ecoterrorist group has been sentenced to five years in jail for her role in four firebombing plots.
Judge Ann Aiken of the Oregon District Court handed Rebecca Rubin, 40, the sentence Monday afternoon after she pleaded guilty to several charges in October.
The five-year prison sentence was the shortest possible under a plea deal Rubin made earlier with prosecutors, who had asked the judge to consider a seven and a half year jail sentence.
Rubin's family members, including her mother and stepfather from North Vancouver and her brother were in court for the sentencing Monday.
"Everyone is greatly relieved but this is certainly not a joyous occasion," said Rubin's lawyer Richard Troberman.
Rubin pleaded guilty to involvement in arson plots against wild horse facilities in Oregon and California and the Vail ski area in Colorado when she was a member of a secretive "eco-terrorist" group in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Rubin left the group more than a decade ago and had been living in Canada. She turned herself in to authorities in 2012, after reaching a plea bargain with prosecutors.
As part of the deal, Rubin agreed to tell authorities details about the plots to destroy property, including forestry buildings in Oregon, wild horse corrals in Oregon and northern California, and the Vail ski resort in Colorado when she was a member of both the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front, 10 to 15 years ago.
Rubin did not agree to give up details of other members of the group, two of whom remain at large.
In arguing for a lenient sentence, Troberman said Rubin was a last-minute recruit to the plots and only acted as a lookout while others carried out more serious actions. She was "substantially less culpable," than others involved, said Troberman.
In a letter submitted to the judge, Rubin wrote that in her early 20s she let her frustration at the pace of change overwhelm her reason.
"I let my frustration and desperation override my ability to make wellreasoned decision; to maintain the calm and patience required of slow, sustained struggle; and I failed to seriously consider the negative consequences of my actions in both the short and long term," she wrote.
Rubin said she accepts "full blame for my mistakes" adding, "I would never have forgiven myself had anyone been injured, or worse, in the fires, and I am disappointed in myself that I took such a risk."
Rubin added, "I am profoundly sorry for the negative impact my actions had on the environmental community and its lawful efforts to affect change." As part of her sentence, the judge ordered Rubin to read two books:
Malcolm Gladwell's David and Goliath, which she said would help Rubin learn non-violent means of protest, and Nature's Trust by University of Oregon environmental law professor Mary C. Wood.
The court has recommended Rubin serve her sentence in a minimum-security federal facility in California. As a dual citizen, Rubin will be eligible to serve up to the last year of her sentence in a halfway house.
