Supporters of a U.S. war resister who lived on Gabriola Island for three years before being deported are looking forward to his return.

Cliff Cornell, 28, was released from prison Saturday after a military judge, in a rare clemency decision, knocked 30 days off his one-year military prison sentence for desertion.

Gabriola resident Jean McLaren said his supporters are glad Cornell is out of prison.

She said Cornell will likely have his job back at the Village Food Market when he returns and people are constantly asking for updates on his situation.

Lawyer James Branum believes the success of Cornell’s clemency application is partially due to the 63 letters from supporters that were included – 44 of which were from Gabriola residents. Cornell also got time off for good behaviour.

The sentence reduction means Cornell’s conviction is reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor, which could help him return to Canada.

Cornell was en route to Arkansas Monday, but Chuck Fager, director of Quaker House in Fayetteville, North Carolina, who was with Cornell all weekend, said he was “greatly relieved” to be out of prison.

He celebrated his first day of freedom after eight months in prison by going out for dinner then watching Avatar in 3-D.

In a two-minute video filmed at Quaker House Sunday, Cornell thanked all his supporters.

“I just kept quiet and [did] what I was told and I got by day-by-day on all the letters I got,” he said. “Eventually I would like to try to get back up to Canada. I have friends up there now and I’ve basically made a home up there.”

Cornell joined the U.S. Army in 2002 because he believed military experience would help him get a civilian job later. When his unit was scheduled to go to Iraq in January 2005, he left the country instead.

He lived and worked on Gabriola for more than three years before his application for refugee status was denied by the Canadian government last December and he turned himself in at the border in February.

Last April, Cornell was sentenced to 12 months in prison and received a bad conduct discharge from the army.

reporter@nanaimobulletin.com

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