Rodney Coronado, a well-known animal rights activist, pleaded guilty in federal court today to a charge that he showed people at a Hillcrest speech how to make a destructive device with the goal of having someone then go out and commit a violent crime.
The rarely used federal law carries a maximum of 20 years in prison. But Coronado, 41, and the government have agreed to ask Judge Jeffrey Miller to impose a sentence of a year plus one day in federal prison.
The charges stem from an Aug. 1, 2003, speech Coronado gave in Hillcrest. In response to a question from the audience, he demonstrated how to start fires with a homemade device. Just hours earlier an apartment complex under construction in University City had been destroyed by arson and an extremist environmental organization had taken credit for it.
Coronado was indicted two years after the blaze. Critics said the government was punishing Coronado for exercising his free speech rights and trying to intimidate activists. The case went to trial in September but jurors could not reach a verdict, though the majority apparently were leaning toward finding Coronado not guilty.