A Wyoming woman charged with setting fire last year to a Casper medical clinic that offers abortions has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Notice of the plea deal for Lorna Green was filed Monday in U.S. District Court for Wyoming. The document itself wasn’t available for public view on a federal court database, which is typical. But Green’s attorney, Ryan Semerad, confirmed to WyoFile that lawyers had reached an agreement.
Terms of the agreement were not publicly disclosed. Semerad declined to comment on the case beyond confirming that a court hearing would likely be set for later this month.
Word of the deal came two weeks before Green’s trial was set to begin in Cheyenne. The 22-year-old faces a single arson count that carries a sentence of five to 20 years in prison. She pleaded not guilty last month.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cheyenne did not immediately respond to an email Monday seeking more information.
Authorities arrested Green in March, roughly 10 months after someone broke into Casper’s Wellspring Health Access, which at the time was only weeks from becoming the second abortion provider in Wyoming. The fire caused nearly $300,000 of damage to the clinic.
The facility, which offers other reproductive health services along with abortions, finally began operating in April. It’s the only clinic in Wyoming to offer surgical abortions.
Soon after the May 25, 2022 arson, Casper police released photos and video of a masked woman with a gas can inside the clinic and asked for the public’s help in identifying her. But that produced no suspects in the case.
In March, authorities released more photos and, with the help of an anonymous donor, upped the reward in the case from $5,000 to $15,000. Investigators soon received 12 tips, with a quarter identifying Green as the suspect, according to an FBI agent’s sworn statement in the case. The tipsters noted a similarity between the suspect’s face, hairline and clothing and Green.
Local and federal authorities searched a Casper home as part of the investigation. The same day, they spoke with Green, who said she’d set fire to the clinic after reading news reports about its opening, according to the investigator’s statement.
“Green states she did not like abortion and was having nightmares, which she attributed to her anxiety about the abortion clinic, so she decided to burn the building,” the investigator wrote.
At the time of the fire, Green was living in Laramie. She bought gas cans and then drove to Casper, where she used a rock to break into the clinic, the statement alleges. She lit the gas in one of the rooms and planned to set fire to others, but the flames spread quicker than she’d expected, prompting her to leave.
Police responded to a report of a broken window and someone leaving the area with a gas can. Responding officers discovered smoke coming from the building, which sits along East Second Street in central Casper. Firefighters soon arrived and extinguished the blaze.
Considering there is an apartment building on the one side and a gas station on the other, no deal should have been made. Her action put people all around in significant danger. What if the gas station had blown up, what if families had been set on fire in the apartments. And what if someone had been in the clinic working late? Nope this girl needs to pay the price for her actions. 20; years would be just right.
Agree that she should held responsible for this very poor , to say the least, choice.
I hope she gets the max sentence. She deserves it.
How long before the fringe right sets up a gofundme page for the arsonist?