Voice of the Voiceless

Former University of Iowa student and barred attorney subpoenaed to testify in Animal Liberation Front investigation.

A University of Iowa graduate has been named as the latest person subpoenaed to testify to a grand jury seeking those responsible for the 2004 Animal Liberation Front raid of the University of Iowa.

Leana Stormont, a barred attorney and graduate of the University of Iowa law school, was involved with animal rights activism on campus at the time of the 2004 A.L.F. raid.  The action saw the rescue of 401 animals from the Spence psychology labs in an overnight raid by the A.L.F.

A visible animal rights activist on campus, Leana Stormont appears to have been on the FBI’s radar since the Animal Liberation Front break-in. After experiencing harassment in the post-raid FBI investigation, she published an article in the American Chronicle titled “Caring About Animals is Not a Crime” on being surveilled by the FBI and the government’s practice of spying on activists.

With this targeting of a former student activist, the subpoena continues this investigation’s theme of persecuting academic research and expression.

The first person charged in relation to the U of I raid, Scott DeMuth, is not an animal rights activist, but a scholar. 17 years old at the time of the raid, DeMuth appears to have been targeted for his research into the animal rights movements as part of his graduate work at the University of Minnesota. DeMuth was subpoenaed to testify at the grand jury in November after journals were seized in a raid of his home by police attempting to neutralize protests at the 2008 Republican National Convention. In the journals, police claim, were notes on interviews with research subjects indicating to the FBI DeMuth may have privileged knowledge of the animal rights movement. No information specific to the University of Iowa Animal Liberation Front raid has yet been alleged. After refusing to testify, DeMuth was charged with Animal Enterprise Terrorism. He remains out of jail pending trial.

Continuing with this trend - while information at this point is sparse - it would come as no surprise if Leana Stormont is being targeted solely because she was an outspoken University of Iowa animal rights activist at the time of the raid, and was supportive of the A.L.F. in the media. She gave this quote from her op-ed in support of the A.L.F. action, published in the University of Iowa student paper:

As a matter of ethical coherence, I do not believe anyone can condemn the actions at Spence [the laboratory that was attacked by the ALF] without likewise condemning the fact that thousands of animals have been intentionally subject to psychological terror and have lost their lives within the confines of that laboratory. . . .

This new subpoena means the FBI remains on the rampage in pursuit of those who picked locks and broke down doors at the University of Iowa in 2004, giving over 400 animals a second chance at life.

-Peter Young

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