By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
A former college student imprisoned since a jury convicted him of eco-terrorism in 2007 was freed Thursday after it was discovered the FBI and prosecutors withheld thousands of pages of evidence that could have been used for his defense, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Federal prosecutors realized they had little choice but to support the release of 37-year-old Eric Taylor McDavid, prompting a judge Thursday to order his release.
“I’ve never heard or seen of anything like this,” said U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr., who originally sentenced McDavid.
In an agreement with prosecutors, McDavid agreed to plead guilty to a single conspiracy count, which carries a sentence less than the number of years he already spent in prison.
McDavid was in prison for allegedly plotting bombing the Nimbus Dam, cell phone towers and a U.S. Forest Service lab.
