Justus Ireland wants his sentence of 87 months, or seven years and three months, reduced to five years, the length he contends prosecutors promised would be imposed if he pleaded guilty to setting a June 2004 fire at Stock Lumber Supply in West Jordan.
Ireland, now an inmate at a federal facility in California and representing himself, wrote a petition filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.
"This petitioner relied on 'material misrepresentation' of the Assistant United States Attorney, the FBI and counsel where he had a choice of what to him was a virtual life sentence of 30 years in an underground prison or he could 'just go with it' and get a guaranteed 5 year sentence," he wrote.
Ireland pleaded guilty to destruction of property by fire under a deal that called for a minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison. A former lumberyard employee who had been fired for missing work, he admitted throwing lighted flares into a truck and under a pallet behind the company building.
He also spray-painted "ELF," an apparent reference to the anarchist Earth Liberation Front, on the side of the building and on a truck. Authorities initially called Ireland a "domestic terrorist," but later said the purported ELF connection was merely to throw investigators off.
U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart imposed the 87-month term in March, citing the $1.6 million in damage and potential endangerment of hundreds of people who live near the lumberyard.
At the time he agreed to plead guilty, Ireland now says, he was under the influence of the antidepressant Paxil and the anti-anxiety drug Klonopin, which had been prescribed by medical personnel when he was in the Salt Lake County Jail awaiting resolution of his case. In addition, he had taken Valium, Percocet, Xanax, OxyContin, morphine, "in short, whatever petitioner could get his hands on," he says.
Agents with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security were pleased when he agreed to their deal during a meeting at an FBI office, Ireland says.
He wrote: "This petitioner was rewarded for his plea and making the agents' jobs easy by being able to choose a fast food place and meal of his choice. To wit: he chose 'Carl's Jr.'s' and a Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich, Fries and a Dr. Pepper."
pmanson@sltrib.com
