Jordan Halliday Sentenced to 10 Months in Prison
Animal rights activist receives prison sentence for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating the A.L.F.
Today, Jordan Halliday was sentenced in federal court to 10 months in prison for his refusal to answer questions during a grand jury investigating A.L.F. mink releases in Utah.
Jordan Halliday will serve 10 months in prison, in addition to the nearly four months he has already served – without credit for time served. Fortunately, he was able to walk out of the courtroom today, and will remain free until January, when he must turn himself into prison.
Halliday’s only “crime” was answering “no comment” or pleading the fifth to a series of questions relating to Animal Liberation Front activity in Utah.
Two Utah mink releases were being investigated by the grand jury: the release of 650 mink from the McMullin fur farm in South Jordan, and the release of 7,000 mink from the Lodder fur farm in Kaysville. William Viehl and Alex Hall plead guilty to carrying out the first raid. The raid of the Lodder fur farm remains unsolved. The government even expressed that Halliday is not considered a suspect in the mink releases, and is being imprisoned solely for his refusal to testify.
The backstory:
After two Utah fur farms were raided in two months in the fall of 2008, a grand jury was convened to investigate. Jordan Halliday was subpoenaed to testify, for apparently no other reason than his visibility as a local animal rights activist.
Halliday invoked his First and Fifth Amendment rights when questioned by the grand jury, and was jailed for nearly four months. The government then released Jordan, promptly charging him for the rarely-prosecuted crime of “criminal contempt”. This is the first time in decades anyone has been prosecuted criminally for refusing to testify to a grand jury in a political case.
After over 18 months since first being subpoenaed, the government sentenced Jordan Halliday to 10 months in prison. This is a victory for the government, it its attempt to intimidate activists out of employing what is always best form of defense: silence.
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– Peter Young
how ridiculous, let them send real criminals to prison, but Oh no killers, basterds wwhatever get charged, and they let them out again, but a guy who is fighting for animal rights, they throw in prison
jesus where is justice and clear thinking judges ?????????????????????????????