“Casey has long been an activist, long cared about Palestinian liberation and been very vocal against the ongoing genocide,” Wozniak told KQED. “This is not the type of action that Casey was involved in before, and so we’re going to provide more information, more context about Casey’s mental health struggles and specifically what was going on before these acts happened.”
The three other fires at the campus were set near the C.V. Starr East Asian Library on June 1, outside Koshland Hall on June 13, and at a construction site near Dwinelle Annex on June 16.
At the time, unidentified pro-Palestinian activists claimed responsibility for the firebombing and the three other arsons on campus.
A post published anonymously on Indybay.com under the name “marilyn’s daughters” said they set the fire at the construction site near Dwinelle Annex as part of a weeklong effort “in retaliation for [University of California police]’s violent assaults on vulnerable student demonstrators,” citing incidents at UCLA and UC Santa Cruz.
Goonan is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail until their sentencing on April 8. They could face up to 20 years in federal prison.
Wozniak said Wednesday that he hopes a forthcoming memorandum detailing their mental state and the backdrop of the war in Gaza will provide context about the crimes linked to Goonan, an activist with a doctorate in African American studies.
“Dr. Goonan’s other attorney and I are going to put together a robust sentencing memorandum contextualizing Dr. Goonan’s acts within the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the impact on Dr. Goonan that that had, the mental health struggles that Dr. Goonan had around the time and right before leading up to the arsons,” he said. “We are hoping for a fair sentence from Judge White.”