From a Justice Department press release distributed yesterday:
A 26-year-old Tacoma, Washington, woman was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 5 years in prison for arson for burning five Seattle Police vehicles parked around Sixth and Pine in downtown Seattle on Saturday, May 30, 2020, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Margaret Aislinn Channon was arrested June 11, 2020, following an investigation by the FBI, ATF, and Seattle Police Department. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour said Channon's conduct had done "tremendous damage to Black Lives Matter in Seattle."
"The right to protest, gather, and call out injustices is one of the dearest and most important rights we enjoy in the United States," said U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. "Indeed, our democracy depends on both exercising and protecting these rights. But Ms. Channon's conduct was itself an attack on democracy. She used the cover of lawful protests to carry out dangerous and destructive acts, risking the safety of everyone around her and undermining the important messages voiced by others."
