Sentencing was postponed Tuesday for a leading figure in the animal rights movement who admitted to setting fire to a horse slaughterhouse in 1997 after his defense lawyer objected to the way the judge applied federal sentencing guidelines.

A volunteer firefighter in the rural Oregon community of Greensprings at the time of his arrest in January 2006, Jonathan Mark Christopher Paul had pleaded guilty to conspiracy and arson for mixing the fuel and serving as a lookout in the July 27, 1997, fire that destroyed the Cavel West Co. horsemeat packing plant in Redmond, Ore.

Paul, 41, is the last of 10 people in Oregon to be sentenced after pleading guilty to charges they were part of a Eugene-based cell known as The Family that set more than 20 fires in five Western states from 1996 through 2001 that were claimed by the radical groups Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front. Three others from the group are to be sentenced in Seattle later this year.

U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken calculated a sentence of four years, three months for Paul–six months fewer than the prosecution’s recommendation under a plea deal–but withdrew it after defense attorney Marc Blackman objected. She ordered attorneys for both sides to file briefs. No date was set to complete the sentencing.

Blackman argued that–based on the judge’s finding that the slaughterhouse fire was not an act of terrorism and on her application of sentencing guidelines in related cases–the sentence should have fallen in the range of 27 months to 33 months.

In a tearful statement, Paul, who lives off an inheritance from his father, renounced arson as a means of saving animals, saying a change of heart upon seeing the flames at the horse slaughterhouse led him to devote his life to work as a firefighter and emergency medical technician.

Paul added that he did not look forward to going to prison but that it paled in comparison with the loss he felt at never again being able to work as a firefighter and EMT.

For more information see www.TheHorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=9684.