D.C.: Tobacco Protester Wins Early Release

Source from:  Raleigh News & Observer By JOSH SHAFFER, Correspondent 07/02/2004

The North Carolina tobacco farmer who staged a one-man protest last year by plunging his John Deere tractor into a pond on the National Mall and threatening to set off bombs soon will go free. Dwight Ware Watson, 51, of Whitakers skirted a six-year prison sentence Tuesday when U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson announced he would reduce Watson's time to 16 months, citing a recent Supreme Court decision that judges cannot set prison terms beyond the maximum in sentencing guidelines. Watson already has been jailed 15 months. It was unclear whether Watson's release would come in days or weeks, but his family rejoiced and called him a hero. "It's a miracle," said his older sister, Anna Watson. "I thought they were going to sentence him to 20 years without parole.'' Watson brought Washington to nail-biting chaos in March 2003 when, just days before the Iraq war, he rolled his tractor into the pond and announced he had "organophosphate" bombs. Through a bullhorn, Watson derided federal agriculture policy and announced that farmers were under siege. He sat with his tractor sunk up to its hubcaps for 47 hours before surrendering peacefully. His bombs turned out to be a few cans of Raid spray. The government estimated that Watson's escapade cost more than $2 million. And, it caused traffic jams that had tens of thousands cursing. Federal agencies shut down, police swarmed the Mall and sharpshooters sat perched on roofs. Watson said at the time that he was unable to secure government loans to keep his farm going. The farm, in Whitakers, a town on the Edgecombe-Nash County line, was suffering from longtime declines in the tobacco market. His protest drew sympathy from some farmers, but his threats came too soon after the terrorist attacks and anthrax scares in Washington to be taken lightly. When Jackson sentenced Watson last week, the judge described him as a nice guy who nonetheless terrorized the nation's capital. He handed down a sentence meant to discourage copycats. On Tuesday, Jackson bowed to the Supreme Court, which ruled only a day after Watson's sentencing that juries rather than judges can extend sentences beyond the maximum set forth in state guidelines. "The Supreme Court has told me that what I did a week ago was plainly illegal," Jackson told Watson, according to The Washington Post. "By my count, Mr. Watson, you're a free man in a few hours." Watson's lawyers praised Jackson's decision, which they said spoke directly to the Supreme Court's ruling. "He did it as well as you can do it," said Erica Hashimoto, who represented Watson for the federal public defender's office. "It really does speak for itself." The federal Bureau of Prisons will calculate the time of Watson's release, she said. The standard sentence is 16 months, but Jackson's good behavior will be factored into his release. Prosecutors could not be reached Tuesday. Back in Whitakers, near Rocky Mount, farmers celebrated their friend's pending release. Nobody in Whitakers admires his threatening violence on their behalf, said Greg Cooke, who manages a Texaco station and was busy blanching corn Tuesday. But residents understand what it is like to have troubles. "Dwight's harmless," Cooke said. "He's not going to hurt anybody. His timing was bad, and I'm sure the judge's hands were pretty much tied." Watson's sister could not recall the last time they spoke, but she recalled stories he told from his days as an Army paratrooper, including some from Fort Bragg. She keeps a bumper sticker on her mother's car which reads "Standing Tall," she said, and she wishes her brother had had the sticker on his tractor that day in Washington. "We miss him," she said. "I say, 'Dwight, you're one of the finest American heroes that ever lived on this planet, and thank you for everything you did. ' " Graham Boyd, executive vice president of the N.C. Tobacco Growers Association and a candidate for Congress from Wake Forest, said he doubts Watson will become a folk hero. If there is any enduring message from the event, he said, it is that Washington is still vulnerable. He marvels that a man could drive a big green tractor through the city and escape notice. "People are not going to be rallying around him, saying 'Attaboy' and all that," Boyd said. "He overstepped the line, and people see and respect that line. What he did didn't help at all." Asked the same question, Watson's sister said that time will tell. Enditem