From Corvallis Gazette-Times (Oregon)
Legal questions delay case of man accused in 2010 arson at Corvallis mosque
The trial for a man accused of firebombing a Corvallis mosque in 2010 continues to be postponed as his defense and federal prosecutors parlay over pre-trial motions.
A federal grand jury indicted Cody Seth Crawford in August 2011 on charges of damaging religious property for racial reasons — a hate crime — and using a fire to commit a felony. The charges stemmed from an arson in the administrative office of Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center at 610 N.W. Kings Blvd. Someone broke out the mosque window and threw in a two-liter soda bottle of flammable liquid, according to investigators.
Investigators recovered a soda bottle cap and flashlight at the scene that tested positive for Crawford’s DNA, according to court documents. Crawford was 24 at the time and lived in a house 200 feet from the mosque.
The arson took place two days after the FBI arrested Somali-born Mohamed O. Mohamud, a former Oregon State University student, in an FBI sting operation in which Mohamud believed that he was detonating explosives at the Nov. 26, 2010, Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland. There was no bomb; it was an FBI sting operation, and Mohamud was convicted in January of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. Mohamud, then 19, had dropped out of Oregon State University in early October 2010. On rare occasions, he had socialized and worshipped at the Corvallis mosque. He is scheduled to be sentenced in June.
Crawford was arrested in August 2011 in connection with the mosque arson and released to home detention in June 2012. His trial will likely be scheduled at his next hearing on June 10 in federal court in Eugene, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney William “Bud” Fitzgerald.
Before the trial, Chief District Judge Ann Aiken will rule on the admissibility of Crawford’s statements and conduct to law enforcement and others in the weeks after the mosque fire.
