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Paul Addis Pleads Guilty To Damaging Property at Burning Man 2007

posted by Scott Beale on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

Paul Addis

Yesterday in a Lovelock, Nevada court Paul Addis plead guilty to felony charges of damaging property by burning the Burning Man sculpture prematurely at last year’s Burning Man event. He was sentenced to 12-48 months in prison and ordered to pay $25,000 in restitution. He was given 68 days off his sentence for time served.

There is quite a bit of discussion on this issue in the comments and on Tribe.

More Coverage:

- The Associated Press

See Previously:

- Burning Man Set on Fire Early Due To Arson
- Paul Addis, The Man Accused of Setting Fire to Burning Man
- Paul Addis Arrested, Planned To Set Fire To Grace Cathedral

UPDATE 1: Andie Grace mentioned Paul’s sentencing on the Burning Man blog.

UPDATE 2: Amacker has more info on Paul’s sentencing, including some photos of Paul before the hearing.

photo by Scott Beale

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filed under: Burning Man

this blog post was written by Scott Beale on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008


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Viewing 183 Comments

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    That seems like a fair sentence.
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    Thanks for posting this, Scott. Given the number of attendees, especially long-standing ones, saying that this was the exact right thing to do, 1-4 years in prison seems way out of proportion.

    It's a shame that BMOrg didn't find something more creatively appropriate, like a 5-year probation with 200 hours each year working to build the man. A thousand hours of productive labor seems much better than a few years of pointless rotting.
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    Well that's pretty shitty. The counter culture event demands restitution for all this free publicity. BM is certainly not a 'safe space' for anything, but you'd think that there could be some wiggle room for someone who was a little confused. Paul Addis was made. That he has to go to jail in the real world is pretty much game over. You mine as well put him in front of a firing squad. 18 months in jail will destroy him. Anyone. The corperation that runs the event that is the face of our community is no longer calabrated to anything other then their interests. Which is totally fine. That's the way people are in the world. But it's shitty. I think if they want time done that we should all do a day.
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    Aside from the fact that it was insane to set the Man on fire while there were people in the pavilion beneath, there was a lot of hard work that went into the displays and technology under the man which was damaged. I concur that this seems fair. Yeah, the Man is built to burn, as many said in defense of the pre-burn, but there's a lot of work that which has to occur immediately before the burn to ensure as much safety as possible.
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    In response to a couple comments that just popped up, I agree that prison time isn't productive, and in fact helps to make things worse. If something more productive could be done with his time/energy in a way that'd address the danger he put others in, that'd be great. I agree that BM isn't a promised "safe zone," but I personally think that setting any structure on fire where they might be people in it is just plain wrong and there should be action taken.
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    “A thousand hours of productive labor seems much better than a few years of pointless rotting.”

    Yeah, but isn’t that the point of jail.

    When you go to jail it mean that you have failed. Failed as a citizen, failed as a human being, failed as a prankster. Whatever. You have failed and now society is going to take your freedom away from you and while the rest of us is San Francisco complain about how hot it is as we go from our air conditioned cars to our air conditioned offices you can rot in a Nevada jail cell and think about your life and the decisions you made that took you to this place.
    Jail isn’t about being a productive member of society. It’s about punishment and having the State take your freedoms away from you. And no matter what you do or say, there is no way you will ever be able to get those 1-2 years back.
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    Maybe the use of this word is a little strong, but he done got martyred!
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    Wonder what the prank will be this year?
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    Once the Nevada DoC officially receives Paul, its web site will say where he's housed:

    http://www.doc.nv.gov/notis/search.php
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    Was Paul Addis charged for setting the Burning Man fire by the Feds or the County?

    He was also charged by the San Francisco Police Department for allegedly preparing to set Grace Cathedral on fire.
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    I am sickened by anyone who has a shred of faith in our legal or prison system. Paul Addis is sick. He needs help. He's not like you or me. We are responsable for our actions. Notice how we don't burn things down? He didn't make an error and needs to be punished. He is having a hard time compartmentalizing reality and fantasy. Find some compassion in your heart for "one of us". We made him. We put those ideas in his head. We ALL talked about burning the man down early. But it was just bar talk, for fun. We talk about what movie stars would give the best blow job too, but we know that we are never getting Uma Thurman to go down on us. Paul doesn't know that what he did was wrong in the same way that we would. Things get confusing when you're scizophrenic. So it's not like he murdered someone for money or put a ruffie in a young girls drink when she wasn't looking or intentionally struck someone with his car because they were black or something... in a magical world were dreams come true and where things exist that are impossible... in a place where fantasy and reality collide in a confluence of science, sex, baccanallia and home depot to a soundtrack and a lightshow.... it's easy to see how someone who is either weak-minded or confused because they are so strong-willed could get lost on the path. Paul Addis was trying to be funny. He wanted to be loved. Really. He wanted to be the good guy. He wanted to be against the bad guys. And years and years of listening to me, John Law, Scott Beale and other people he respects rail relentlessly on the LLC he did what he thought would elevate him to an elite status or something. He felt that was he did was 'justified' or whatever. But he's not qualified to think these thoughts or whatever. He needs help getting through a day without SEVERE conflict. I feel more responsable for him doing this then other people, I have come to find out. And why he didn't plead insanity is beyond me. But before you go talking about property damage or how someone 'might' have got hurt and that jail is a place to think about what you did or whatever... as someone who has been to jail I can honestly say that there is no good that will come out of sending someone there. I am happy that most of you will never know the nightmare of what jail is. That you will never have to experience the solitiary feeling you have when you have no rights. That you will never have to appear sick all the time to try to get people not to rape you. To cut your mouth up and stuff to make it look like you have herpes sores so people don't want to shove their dicks in your mouth. To not have an intelligent conversation with anyone. To ask your friends to stop comming because the contrast of their visits actually makes the time harder. To watch people die of HepC and AIDS with zero help from anyone. To watch gangs brutally attack each other because of shit that happened on the outside as "payback". To see the steel gaze of the gaurds who don't care if you live or die and won't lift a finer to help you. To beg for more solitary. And then to one day have a 'good' day on the inside, and feel like you're losing your fucking mind.

    Paul Addis is 5' 2". I am greiving for him.

    Before anyone talks about how he 'deserves it' or whatever please feel free to understand the idea behind law. A law is one of 2 things: it is an enforcement tool or a deterrent. You are aprehended and brought before the judge when you break a law. But you are judged on your intent. What was Paul's intent? Indeed. What indeed.

    We are a community of people. We are in this together. All of us. Yea, you may not like one or 2 and maybe you're feeling like you can pick and chose who you love and who you don't but that's an illusion. Like a colony of ants, we are 1 community of people. When 1 of us suffers, it affects the others. Please have some respect for this complicated situation and don't always look for the easy path or right and wrong.

    Thank you for reading
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    Freddy:

    Charges were filed by Pershing County.

    With respect to Grace Cathedral, Paul eventually pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts.
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    I'll never be able to go to Burning Man again after reading this. How can this pretend to be a counter-culture event when someone is sent to real-world jail for countering the corporate culture of the festival?

    A festival born of burning an effigy on a San Francisco beach as certainly lost its way. For shame.
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    Great post Chicken, Thank you.
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    The headline here reads... "Paul Addis pleads guilty to Burning Man 2007 Arson Charges". I recall reading Paul Addis is an attorney. He must have known what the actions by the authorities and consequences were going to be. I agree with Chicken John that Paul Addis needs help. Was he also under psychiatric observation by the court after the San Francisco incident?

    My observation is that Burning Man has not been a counter-culture event since the last century. The straight media may think so or write that it is. It is as legally entwined and involved with every facet of stuff America has to offer as anything else. It is just appears weirder to many people.
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    “How can this pretend to be a counter-culture event when someone is sent to real-world jail for countering the corporate culture of the festival?”

    Huh?

    People have been sent to jail for years now for acting like idiots at Burning Man. What about the junkie that stole a car and ran over the couple sleeping in their tents in 96? What about the sexual assaults and rapes (reported and unreported) that happen every year?

    Keep in mind Paul is the same person who made DEATH THREATHS against the students that lived nearby him.

    http://www.sfweekly.com/2007-11-14/news/burning...

    Last month, San Francisco's Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory sought a restraining order against Addis after the 37-year-old allegedly threatened to murder students at the school. Nick Barsetti, the security coordinator for the school, claimed Addis told students on Sept. 8 he would "shoot them in the head with a Mac-10" submachine gun, and "pick them off one by one," according to court documents. An emergency protection order was promptly granted on Sept. 10. But, one day later, Addis was back and making "threatening gestures" to school staff.

    ***

    Remember that when we have our next Columbine, our next Virginia Tech Massacre.

    Remember that the next time some psycho with a gun and a grudge decides to settle the score.

    Paul got off light and should be counting his blessings right now.
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    If we project the standard that Paul was held to back in time how many of the original Burning Man participants should go to jail?
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    A counter culture group using it's *money* to oppress a *lone prankster* through the court *system?* We got way too much ego and apparently too much money goin on around here.

    Time to move on, people. There's nothing to see here.