Woman who freed minks from farms across the country gets plea deal

A woman accused of going on a cross-country rampage against the fur industry reached a new plea deal with prosecutors this week — six months after a federal judge in San Diego rejected her initial plea agreement.

Nicole Kissane pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of conspiracy to violate the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, admitting to damaging the operation of an animal enterprise and freeing minks from farms across the country, causing more than $100,000 in damage.

She also admitted to vandalizing the Furs by Graf store in San Diego’s Kearny Mesa neighborhood on July 14, 2013, as well as the La Mesa and Spring Valley homes of the business’ owner and the owner’s parents, according to the plea agreement.

Kissane had pleaded guilty in February at the same time as her co-defendant, Joseph Buddenberg. Their plea agreements were unusual in that they were binding, meaning that rather than allow the judge to set the sentence, the judge had to accept or reject the specific sentence spelled out in the plea agreement.

Buddenberg was sentenced in May to two years in prison, as agreed upon in the plea deal.

When it came time to sentence Kissane in June, U.S. District Judge Larry Burns scoffed at the term in the plea deal — six months — saying the punishment didn’t seem “in the interest of justice.”

“I don’t want my name on this,” Burns said. He called the crime a “campaign of terror against an industry that goes multi-state, involves great planning and coordination by the defendants.”

The prosecution and the defense said they arrived at the agreement because Kissane played a smaller role in the rampage than Buddenberg. They accused Buddenberg of dominating Kissane and leading her into trouble.

The two had met at a lawful animal-rights protest and moved to Portland, Ore., together in 2012, according to Kissane’s defense team.

Burns said he didn’t hear any of that evidence when he sentenced Buddenberg and told the lawyers in June that he felt he made a mistake in sentencing him to a low-end term.

In the new agreement, which is not binding, the sentence will be left up to Burns. Prosecutors are expected to recommend 18 months, while the defense will argue for 15 months. Sentencing has been set for Jan. 17.

Kissane also has agreed to pay $423,477 in restitution, to be shared by Buddenberg. The amount includes damages to paid to the Grafs and several mink farms.

The pair were accused of traveling about 40,000 miles, freeing thousands of minks from farms and targeting others they felt were sympathetic to the fur industry. The damage to the Furs by Graf store included spray-painting the words “killer” and “murder” on the building, etching its windows and spraying acid into the shop, according to court records.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Davis writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune

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