Saving Lives Is A Crime
"A Tucson man convicted of littering on federal land said he will continue to leave out water for illegal immigrants walking through the desert, even if that means risking further citations.
Staton, a Web designer and volunteer with the humanitarian group No More Deaths, faces up to one year in prison and a $10,000 fine when he is sentenced Aug. 11 by U.S. District Magistrate Judge Jennifer Guerin.
"What really surprised me, though, was . . . this trial must have cost the government more than $50,000," Walker [Staton's lawyer] said. "They say there aren't enough agents on the border, that they can't stop terrorists from coming into the country . . . and then they spend all of this time and money prosecuting a humanitarian who is putting out water to save lives.""
BRIAN J. PEDERSEN in the Arizona Daily Star.