William "Billy" Jensen Cottrell (born 1980) is a former
Ph.D.A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
candidate at the
California Institute of TechnologyThe California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
who was convicted in April 2005 of
conspiracyIn the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
and
arsonArson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
, associated with the destruction of 8
sport utility vehicleA sport utility vehicle is a generic marketing term for a vehicle similar to a station wagon, but built on a light-truck chassis. It is usually equipped with four-wheel drive for on- or off-road ability, and with some pretension or ability to be used as an off-road vehicle. Not all four-wheel...
s and a Hummer dealership in the name of the
Earth Liberation FrontThe Earth Liberation Front , also known as "Elves" or "The Elves", is the collective name for autonomous individuals or covert cells who, according to the ELF Press Office, use "economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment".The ELF was founded...
(ELF). He was sentenced to eight years in
federal prisonFederal prisons are run by national governments in countries where subdivisions of the country also operate prisons.In the United States federal prisons are operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. In Canada the Correctional Service of Canada operates federal prisons. Prison sentences in these...
on arson charges and ordered to pay $3.5 million in restitution. His lawyers, however, have appealed the verdict and sentence.
He was released August 16, 2011.
Earlier life
Cottrell grew up in
ConcordConcord is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. According to Census 2010, the city has a current population of 79,066. It is the largest city in Cabarrus County and is the county seat. In terms of population, the city of Concord is the second largest city in the Charlotte Metropolitan Area...
,
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
and
GainesvilleGainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
,
FloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, with two younger siblings, a brother and a sister. His parents, who eventually divorced, are William Cottrell, an
anesthesiologistAn anesthesiologist or anaesthetist is a physician trained in anesthesia and peri-operative medicine....
, and Heidi Schwiebert. According to his mother, who referred to her son as being socially retarded, and according to other sources, Cottrell had trouble fitting in with his peers during his childhood and adolescence. From a young age, he was fascinated with
scienceScience is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, especially math and
physicsPhysics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
. As a sixth-grader, he submitted a report on quantum mechanics as extra credit. However, the grade he received was an "F." The teacher believed that he had
plagiarizedPlagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
the work. This event caused Cottrell to stop excelling in school, and led him to a life as rebel and class troublemaker. However, his love for math and physics never waned, and in high school, he started taking college-level math and physics courses at colleges near home. Despite his poor high school
grade point averageGrades are standardized measurements of varying levels of comprehension within a subject area. Grades can be assigned in letters , as a range , as a number out of a possible total , as descriptors , in percentages, or, as is common in some post-secondary...
, he wrote a compelling college application
essayAn essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
.
The essay impressed the
University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, resulting in an acceptance for Cottrell as part of its Class of 2002. In college, he excelled academically, and received many honors from the math and physics departments, and earned his bachelor's in physics. It was also the first time he found acceptance from his
peersA peer group is a social group consisting of humans. Peer groups are an informal primary group of people who share a similar or equal status and who are usually of roughly the same age, tended to travel around and interact within the social aggregate Members of a particular peer group often have...
. After graduating from college, he was accepted to the graduate physics program at Caltech, where he would meet Tyler Johnson, who was also studying physics and finishing up his undergraduate work. Besides physics, what the two young men had in common was pulling adrenaline-inducing pranks. Among the pranks they pulled around Pasadena were doctoring a
StarbucksStarbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
sign to read "Starfucks" and pasting "Go
MetricThe metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world...
" stickers all over buildings, including the "hard-to-reach" areas.
Hummer incident
In August 2003, Cottrell and Tyler Johnson developed a plan to place bumper stickers on
SUVsA sport utility vehicle is a generic marketing term for a vehicle similar to a station wagon, but built on a light-truck chassis. It is usually equipped with four-wheel drive for on- or off-road ability, and with some pretension or ability to be used as an off-road vehicle. Not all four-wheel...
reading "SUV = TERRORISM." In a series of e-mails that were later recovered by the
FBIThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
, Cottrell attempted to recruit his friends to help him purchase the bumper stickers. Cottrell, Johnson, and Johnson's girlfriend Michie Oe are alleged to have vandalized several SUV dealerships with spray paint. At the final dealership, Clippinger Hummer, a number of SUVs were destroyed by fires started by
Molotov cocktailThe Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, Molotov bomb, fire bottle, fire bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons...
s. The initials ELF were left on the destroyed vehicles, signifying an allegiance to the
Earth Liberation FrontThe Earth Liberation Front , also known as "Elves" or "The Elves", is the collective name for autonomous individuals or covert cells who, according to the ELF Press Office, use "economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment".The ELF was founded...
. Cottrell and his attorneys allege that the fires were started by Johnson, while the FBI alleged that Cottrell was also directly involved.
After the arsons, the FBI initially arrested Josh Connole, an activist from
Pomona, California-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Pomona had a population of 149,058, a slight decline from the 2000 census population. The population density was 6,491.2 people per square mile...
. They were eventually forced to release Connole, although they refused for over a year to acknowledge his innocence. After Connole's arrest, the
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
received an e-mail from a Caltech computer. The mystery e-mailer claimed responsibility for the arsons, mocked the FBI, and mentioned the previously undisclosed detail that
Euler's Identity had been spray-painted on several vehicles. The FBI traced the e-mail to Caltech, and in the early months of 2004, they interviewed numerous witnesses at Caltech and eventually arrested Cottrell. The FBI investigation, led by Special Agent Richard Smith, failed to apprehend Johnson and Oe, who are believed to have fled the country.
Trial
He was arrested in March 2004 after law enforcement tracked him sending emails to the
Los Angeles Times. The e-mails signed by "Tony Marsden" speak about what the ELF cell had done, vandalizing more than 130 SUVs parked at dealerships or residential homes, claiming they were damaging the environment. Cottrell was not charged under the PATRIOT Act as a terrorist as is often reported. Rather, he was charged with conspiracy to commit arson, arson, and one count of using a destructive device (molotov cocktails) during a crime of violence, in an October 24, 2004 Federal grand jury indictment. Cottrell's lawyers stated that he was diagnosed with
Asperger syndromeAsperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
, an autism spectrum disorder. However, Judge Gary Klausner would not allow a defense based upon the claim that Cottrell was suffering from Asperger syndrome.
At his trial, Cottrell admitted being present, but denied involvement in throwing Molotov cocktails, saying Johnson was the mastermind.
An informal network of Cottrell supporters formed, led by the
Earth Liberation FrontThe Earth Liberation Front , also known as "Elves" or "The Elves", is the collective name for autonomous individuals or covert cells who, according to the ELF Press Office, use "economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment".The ELF was founded...
Prisoner's Network and the Free Billy Cottrell organization. These supporters claimed that Cottrell was the innocent victim of government persecution. However, when Cottrell named Johnson as the mastermind, it prompted his Free Billy Cottrell supporters to brand him as a
traitorIn law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
, issue an apology to those who supported Cottrell, and end all support.
Imprisonment
An article in the
LA WeeklyLA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
reports that Billy is being mistreated by prison guards who have labeled him a "terrorist". According to the article, he is not permitted to study physics or Mandarin Chinese, is not permitted to teach the other prisoners calculus, and has had his books and papers removed without being given a reason.
A letter in Cottrell’s defense, signed by
Stephen HawkingStephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity...
and other prominent scientists, was distributed to prison authorities and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals at Cottrell’s October 18, 2006 hearing. "But instead of helping him in prison," the
Weekly writes, "the letter seemed only to make things worse: Two weeks after the hearing, Cottrell was mysteriously thrown in the Hole." He was then transferred into another federal prison with less violent prisoners.
He, according to his father, has seen improvements. Cottrell is now allowed to study subjects that he was denied at the last prison he was at and no longer has a roommate.
Documentary Film
A documentary film on Cottrell, titled
Standard Deviation, was written and directed by David Randag and Chris Brannan in 2008. In 2009, it won the Emmy for best student documentary at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation's 30th College Television Awards.
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Decision
On 8 September 2009, Cottrell's convictions for arson were overturned and his sentences by the
9th U.S. Circuit Court of AppealsThe United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...
. However, the conspiracy conviction and sentence were affirmed. According to the
Times, the omission of Cottrell's diagnosis of
Asperger syndromeAsperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
during his 2004 trial played a key role in the decision. The
Federal Bureau of PrisonsThe Federal Bureau of Prisons is a federal law enforcement agency subdivision of the United States Department of Justice and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. The system also handles prisoners who committed acts considered felonies under the District of Columbia's...
currently reports that Cottrell was released on August 16, 2011.