Arson case goes to jury

By Christian Hill | The Olympian • Published February 29, 2008

A jury will begin deliberations this morning in the trial of a former Olympia resident accused of participating in an arson that destroyed a University of Washington research center nearly seven years ago.

The government contends Briana Waters, 32, served as a lookout as four co-conspirators broke into the UW's Center of Urban Horticulture and placed an incendiary device that burst into flame around 3 a.m. on May 21, 2001. Waters, who now lives in Oakland, Calif., has denied involvement in the arson and said she likely was asleep in Olympia when it occurred. She was attending The Evergreen State College at the time.

She faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 35 years in prison, if convicted of all crimes, including arson, conspiracy and use of a destructive device during a crime of violence. Attorneys for the government and Waters used their closing arguments Thursday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to focus on the testimony of two women who confessed to their role in the arson and separately took the stand to identify Waters as a co-conspirator.

Prosecutors said the testimony of Jennifer Kolar, Lacey Phillabaum and others corroborated physical evidence they could not know existed unless they were telling the truth.

They said Waters' defense counsel had no factual evidence to undercut their theory of Waters' involvement in the arson, leaving her to claim she is telling the truth while everyone else is lying.

"Her lies tell you she's guilty," First Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Bartlett told the jurors. "She can't tell you a better story than this."

Waters' attorney, Robert Bloom, countered that the government's case was built on the word of two women — whom he described as "criminals" — who agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for lesser prison sentences.

"She has lied in this very courtroom," Bloom said of Kolar, "and they're asking you to rely on her to convict Briana Waters."

Bloom said both women had reasons to be bitter at Waters. Waters testified that she turned down a sexual advance by Kolar and had a heated confrontation with Phillabaum about Phillabaum's alleged sexual encounter with Waters' then-boyfriend, Justin Soldondz.