I like Walmart (and once testified to that in federal court). So must this judge, because he gave this arsonist a heck of a sentence. Good.
Walmart is a global retailer. It has more than 10,000 stores. It also does significant online business. If ever there was a company that affects interstate commerce, it’s Walmart.
That’s why setting fire to one of its stores – or four of them – is a federal crime. (See 18 U.S.C. § 844(i), damaging property used in interstate commerce by means of fire or explosive, and § 844(n), conspiracy to do so.)
A lot of people visit Walmart stores. If all the people who visited in just one week could form a nation, it would be the 5th most populous country in the world! (Walmartistan? Walmartopia? The Discount Republic of Walmart?)
More seriously: Fire is dangerous and arson is a violent crime.
All of that is what lead to this case.
Alexander Olson and seven co-conspirators issued a “declaration of war” against Walmart for business practices they viewed as “crimes against humanity.” They issued a list of demands that included things like a minimum wage, free healthcare, limiting CEO pay, giving away free food, and implementing a climate plan.
To coerce the company into meeting their demands, they set fires inside four different stores during business hours. The fires caused chaos and panic as people – many of them children – ran from the stores in fear. The fires caused more than $7 million in damage and loss.
(True to their “let’s use violence to decide how to spend other people’s money” mantra, they also planned to rob a bank using a hoax suicide bomb, but backed out at the last minute.)
Olson plead guilty. Though his calculated sentence guideline range was around four years, the statute he plead to imposes a minimum-mandatory sentence of five years. So he knew he’d be facing at least that when he plead guilty. That’s the sentence the government recommended.
The judge had another idea. He sentenced Olson to 15 years instead.
(Meanwhile, this guy only got 8 years for setting fire to Target. https://lnkd.in/gEpcgZyH)
Olson appealed his sentence, making what amount to procedural and unfairness arguments. He was led astray by the group’s charismatic leader (who I assume watched Fight Club a lot).
But they were less compelling than the facts of the case.
This week, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the sentence, finding the lengthy prison sentence he earned was reasonable and justified by the lives endangered, the damage, the political motive, and the scope of the conspiracy.
BTW, did you know Walmart’s logo is called the “spark”? To all would be arsonists: that’s not to be taken literally.
You can read the opinion here.
“In case you’re interested, I’ve written about Walmart before, in this underperforming Ron Burgundy meme themed post: https://lnkd.in/gK3KG28N.”
“Oh, and the picture in this post? I took it at my local Walmart this morning. I needed Tahitian Treat and a shotgun.