7th Circuit upholds conviction of man who set Planned Parenthood clinic ablaze

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The conviction of a Grand Chute man who set a Planned Parenthood clinic on fire will stand, despite protests that instructions to the jury tainted to the case, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.

Francis Grady, 52, is serving an 11-year sentence at a federal prison in Sumterville, Fla. after being found guilty of arson and damage to property. He set the Grand Chute clinic ablaze in 2012 by breaking a window with a hammer, pouring gasoline inside the building and lighting it on fire.

Following his conviction, Grady appealed. The arson statute he was charged under contained the terms “maliciously damages or destroys, or attempts to damage or destroy, by means of fire or an explosive, any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property used in interstate or foreign commerce.”

Grady’s attorney had argued that Eastern District Chief Judge William Griesbach should define “maliciously” as “intentionally caus[ing] damage without just cause or reason,” as defined by the 2011 Model Criminal Jury Instructions of the Eighth Circuit.

Instead, Griesbach used a definition, put forth by prosecutors, that defined it as “[acting] intentionally or with deliberate disregard of the likelihood that damage or injury will result.”

And the appellate court agreed, in a decision (PDF) authored by Judge Michael Kanne, with Griesbach’s omission of the “without just cause or reason” phrase.

“Grady clearly caused harm to a third party, Planned Parenthood, when he set the fire in their building that resulted in extensive damage and forced the facility to cancel all services for a whole day,” the opinion states.

During his testimony, Grady said he didn’t mean to burn down the building, but wanted to “release the children.”

He said when he lit the building on fire, he “saw souls coming out of the windows,” according to the opinion, and that he “said a prayer for all them children that passed away in there from abortion.”

Grady’s release date is Oct. 25, 2022. Follow @eheisigWLJ