A U.S. judge in Oregon has postponed the trial of four environmentalists facing life sentences for committing arson and sabotage. The trial was scheduled to begin in October but has been delayed, possibly until March. Defense lawyers said they needed more time to analyze tens of thousands of pages of evidence. The activists, Daniel McGowan, Jonathan Paul, Nathan Block and Joyanna Zacher, have been accused of being involved in a series of arsons done in the name of the Earth Liberation Front. The arsons resulted in widespread property damage but no one was injured in any of the fires. The government’s case rests largely on testimony from six other co-defendants. The National Lawyers Guild has accused the government of intimidating the co-defendants into become cooperating witnesses by charging them with offenses that carry life sentences. This is attorney Lauren Regan, the founder and executive director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center in Oregon.

• Lauren Regan: Well, in these cases the people are alleged to have committed property damage — not murder, arson. You know, if you want to call it that, call it arson, the burning of property. And as you can see, approximately five years is the average sentence. Well, these people are looking at life plus at the maximum — life plus 1,115 years in prison for alleged crimes of arson.