Last of 3 Animal Rights Activists Freed From Jail
A federal judge has released the last of three animal rights activists jailed for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating the costliest act of environmental arson in U.S. history.
Judge Irma E. Gonzalez lifted a civil contempt order Thursday against Nicole Fink, ruling that she is not likely to testify and holding her any longer would be punitive.
The government is investigating a $50-million fire that destroyed a San Diego apartment complex under construction in 2003. The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility.
Prosecutors subpoenaed Fink to determine whether Rodney Coronado, an animal rights activist from Tucson, Ariz., broke the law when, during a lecture in San Diego hours before the 2003 fire, he demonstrated how he set an earlier fire.
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