Man charged with pipeline shooting faces 10 years
Shooting resulted in spilling more than 285,000 gallons of oil and $13 million in cleanup costs
ANCHORAGE - The man charged with shooting a hole in the trans-Alaska oil pipeline last year, causing a 285,000-gallon oil spill, faces 10 years in prison for a weapons violation.
A sentencing hearing was held Monday in Fairbanks for Daniel Lewis, who was convicted of a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. At the hearing, federal Judge John Sedwick said he is convinced Lewis shot the pipeline. Lewis was in possession of the weapon the same day the pipeline was shot.
"The defendant was the person who shot the pipeline," said Sedwick.
As a result, Sedwick said he will put Lewis into a more severe sentencing category. Federal prosecutor Karen Loeffler told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner the ruling binds Sedwick to assigning a 10-year prison sentence.
Lewis' sentencing date for the federal weapons charge has not yet been set. Sedwick said he is giving Lewis' lawyer and the prosecution time to submit written arguments on whether the federal sentence should be served at the same time or in addition to any sentence Lewis could receive if convicted of state charges relating to the pipeline shooting.
Lewis is scheduled to go on trial next week in state court for the pipeline shooting. He faces charges of first-degree criminal mischief, third-degree assault, driving while intoxicated, oil pollution and weapons misconduct.
Those charges all relate to allegations that Lewis shot the pipeline on Oct. 4, 2001 with a .338-caliber rifle, resulting in a spill of more than 285,000 galloons of oil and cleanup costs of about $13 million.
The trial is expected to take about three weeks. Sedwick said Monday the outcome of the state trial will not change his ruling that Lewis shot the pipeline when it comes to sentencing him on the federal charge. '
"The taking of evidence in this case is closed," he said.
Lewis is serving a three and a half year prison sentence after being convicted of breaking into a Fairbanks U-Haul business, stealing the safe and driving off with a truck.