Publisher who criticized organized bonsai sentenced to 3-plus years

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''I don't think anyone at the trial would conclude that Mr. Rutledge was a sophisticated critic,'' the judge said, characterizing Rutledge’s chief offense as more like "excessive wordiness."

Witnesses said Rutledge participated in multiple Internet forums, and that he published remarks and criticisms on his opinion web site Bonsai Palaver, all the time operating under the guise of an enthusiast.  His tiny suburban website was full of articles critical of organized bonsai groups, and praising such abstract concepts as "substantive discussion" and "passionate debate." At the same time, Palaver offered no platform for public comment.

"[Palaver] was a little like a crow’s nest from which Rutledge would launch one-sided assaults on the community," offered one witness, "Andy says he was editorializing, but it seemed more like sniping to me."

During his weeklong trial in January, prosecutors presented evidence including a videotape of Rutledge giving an anti-establishment speech in which he railed against forum members’ ''egregious distortions" and praised attacks on organized bonsai.

Among Rutledge’s many opinion pieces were comments suggesting that Bonsai artists were unappreciated and underpaid.

Defense attorney David R. Adeleis argued his client was not very important in the world of bonsai, noting the ''bureaucratic bickering'' over the pricing of bonsai specimens Rutledge offered on a popular Internet auction house, and rampant speculation as to who would be obliged to pay Rutledge for his creations. Apparently no one wanted to. Adeleis also said a high-ranking Japanese bonsai official had once testified that he had never heard of Rutledge.

Thespin J. Gneir, special agent in charge of the Dallas Fort Worth office of the FBI, disagreed that Rutledge was unimportant.

''This guy was way up the food chain,'' Gneir said after the sentencing.