water jugs

Originally published Feb. 28, 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA – A volunteer with a faith-based humanitarian organization said Thursday that he didn’t do anything wrong, even though he was arrested and convicted in federal court for leaving jugs of water out in the desert for thirsty illegal border crossers.

Emrys “Walt” Staton, a member of the group No More Deaths and a graduate student at Claremont School of Theology, told a small audience at the University of Southern California that he was ticketed and arrested because of water bottles. He told the story of how he was cited for littering in December 2008; he put eight 1-gallon water jugs out in the Arizona desert near the U.S.-Mexico border. He said he regularly put water out to keep migrants from dying of thirst when crossing the border.

Staton said a federal court convicted him in June 2009 and sentenced him to 300 hours of community service. He said he appealed his conviction and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco eventually overturned it. He said his littering charges were finally vacated last month. (more…)