Arsonist ordered to pay nearly $300,000 for damages to Wyoming abortion clinic

Just before 4 a.m. the morning of the fire, police responded to the clinic after receiving a report of a broken window, smoke coming from the building and a person leaving the scene with a gas canister, prosecutors said. Soon after, firefighters extinguished the blaze, but not before it caused “significant” damage to the structure, engulfed one room, spread through the hallway and caused fluorescent light bulbs to melt and fall to the floor, prosecutors said, adding they noted that police had found gas cylinders in the building.

Later, detectives were able to match the physical description of Ms. Green – a slim person, likely female, wearing jeans, a dark sweater and a white mask – with security camera footage showing her smashing one of the clinic’s windows with a rock before carrying what appeared to be gasoline into the building and pouring it on the floor. But several months later, authorities still had not identified a suspect, and in early March they renewed their efforts and offered an additional reward for information leading to her arrest. Ms Green was arrested later that month.

She told investigators at the time that she had read about the clinic’s opening and knew abortion services would be offered. She told them she didn’t like abortions and was having nightmares caused by fear of the clinic, so she decided to set the building on fire, prosecutors said.

When the Wellspring clinic opened in April, Wyoming had become the first state to ban abortion pills just weeks earlier, boosting pressure from conservative states and anti-abortion groups to crack down on medication abortion, the method now used in most terminations of pregnancy. in the United States. In June, a Wyoming judge temporarily blocked the law a week before it was set to take effect. The ban remains disputed in court.

Ms. Green’s lawyer, Ryan Semerad, wrote in an email on Wednesday that his client, who is serving her sentence in a federal prison camp in West Virginia, had agreed to repay damages “as part of her efforts to atone for her actions. ”