In the end, a federal jury in Alaska didn’t believe militia leader Francis Schaeffer Cox’s claim that he was just a free-speech loudmouth — more like Gandhi than Rambo — and convicted him of heading a conspiracy to murder a judge and law enforcement officials.

The jury also convicted Lonnie Vernon, a member of Cox’s Alaska Peacemakers Militia, of conspiracy to commit murder. But it couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict on that same charge against a third defendant, Coleman Barney.

Cox, 28, of Fairbanks, and Vernon, 56, of Salcha, both face a term of up to life in prison when they are sentenced Sept. 14 in Anchorage by visiting U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan from Tacoma. Barney, 38, of North Pole, faces sentencing after being convicted of conspiring to possess unregistered silencers and destructive devices. ( continue to full post… )

Two members of a Georgia militia — arrested late last year in a plot to bomb federal buildings, assassinate public officials and attack cities with deadly ricin — pleaded guilty today to conspiracy charges in a Gainesville, Ga., courtroom.

Accused ringleader Frederick W. Thomas, 73, and Emory Dan Roberts, 67, both entered guilty pleas to charges of conspiring to possess explosives and firearms.

The case was labeled by the FBI as one of its top domestic terrorism investigations of 2011 following the arrests of Thomas and Roberts and two others last November. ( continue to full post… )

The two remaining defendants in the government’s case against members of Michigan’s Hutaree Militia pleaded guilty today to federal firearms charges, just two days after a judge dismissed antigovernment conspiracy charges against the pair and five others.

David Stone Sr., 47, and his son Joshua Stone, 23, pleaded guilty to possessing machine guns. They admitted to U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts in a Detroit courtroom that they had two .223-caliber rifles, knowing that the weapons would fire automatically with one trigger pull. Possession of such firearms without proper registration is a federal crime.

After the pleas were entered, the elder Stone – identified by authorities as the Hutaree leader – told the Detroit Free Press that he thinks the case “will only lead to more mistrust of the government by militias.” ( continue to full post… )

A federal judge in Detroit today dismissed charges against seven members of the Hutaree militia who have been on trial for allegedly plotting to kill police officers in hopes of igniting a revolution against the government.

“The government’s case is built largely of circumstantial evidence,” U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts said in a 28-page order dismissing the charges before the case was sent to a jury.

“While this evidence could certainly lead a rational fact finder to conclude that ‘something fishy’ was going on, it does not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendants reached a concrete agreement to forcibly oppose the United States Government,” the judge  wrote. ( continue to full post… )

A jury in Detroit today began the task of attempting to determine whether a heavily armed Christian militia group was embarking on an armed confrontation with the federal government or merely living in a fantasy world of “recreation” and protected free speech.

Seven members of the Hutaree militia arrested in an FBI sweep last March are on trial in U.S. District Court on charges of seditious conspiracy – plotting the overthrow of the U.S. government – and the companion felonies of attempted use of weapons of mass destruction and possession of firearms during crimes of violence.  An eighth member has struck a plea bargain and may be a key prosecution witness during the trial, expected to last six to eight weeks.

“These individuals … wanted an armed confrontation with law enforcement and the federal government,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Graveline said in opening statements, the Detroit Free Press reported. ( continue to full post… )

A man whose nickname is “Mouse” is the first member of the Hutaree Militia to strike a plea deal with the Justice Department to avoid the possibility of a lengthy federal prison sentence.

Joshua John Clough, 29, of Blissfield Township, Mich., pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Detroit to use of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence – a federal crime that carries a five-year minimum sentence.

Clough was one of nine members of the Hutaree Militia arrested in March 2010 and charged in a plot to make homemade bombs as part of a conspiracy to murder scores of law enforcement officers. Charging documents allege “Mouse” and his co-conspirators hoped the killing of cops would spark a large uprising against the federal government. A superseding indictment returned in June 2010 accuses the defendants of seditious conspiracy and a host of other serious federal crimes. ( continue to full post… )

A former TSA employee from Minneapolis pleaded guilty to a hate crime for assaulting an 83-year-old Somali man. George Anderson, 64, is accused of threatening the victim because he was a Muslim and then chasing him into the street in May 2010.

Self-proclaimed sovereign citizen and public television host John McGowan was convicted of first-degree sexual assault on Wednesday. McGowan had questioned the government’s right to bring charges in the case, but a six-person jury disagreed. McGowan faces up 20 years in prison for the charges. ( continue to full post… )

The Wisconsin State Fair imposed a curfew on Friday for all people under the age of 18 after a series of racially motivated attacks on its opening night. Police allege that a group of African-American youths attacked fair patrons, as well as police officers, simply because they were white.

The trial of eight members of the Hutaree militia may be postponed until early 2012. The defendants are accused of conspiring to commit a rebellion against the federal government. The defense is asking for the postponement, citing pre-trial issues.

A man in Provincetown, Mass., has been charged in connection with an alleged hate crime committed last week. Dorgee Gyadatsand, 24, allegedly attacked a gay couple as they informed him of his driving in the wrong direction on a one-way street. Police say he used anti-gay language in the unprovoked attack.

The FBI is investigating a possible hate crime against an Ann Arbor resident after she was threatened on Sunday. The victim, a Muslim, alleges that a white man pulled up to her at a stoplight, showed her a handgun and used racial slurs. He told her: “You’re a terrorist.  Your people should be killed.”

A Texas white supremacist responsible for an anti-Muslim shooting spree faces execution on Wednesday. Mark Stroman, 41, is currently on death row for a series of revenge attacks in the days after the 9/11 terror attacks that killed two South Asian men and wounded another. The surviving victim, a Bangladeshi Muslim, is asking for Storman’s sentence to be commuted to life in prison.

One of the defendants convicted for the murder of an Arizona man and his daughter has been sentenced to life in prison. Albert Gaxiola, along with two others, entered the home of Junior Flores pretending to be Border Patrol agents and shot Flores, his wife (who survived), and their daughter Brisenia. Two of the defendants have received the death penalty, but the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision on a death sentence for Gaxiola.

A member of the Hutaree Militia has been deemed unfit for trial due to mental problems. Jacob Ward, 34, has been indicted, along with nine others, for an antigovernment plot to kill police officers. Judge Victoria Roberts stated that Ward suffers from a mental defect, and is unable to understand the charges he faces.

The hunt for a militia leader has been temporarily halted after the suspect disappeared into the Montana woods. David Burgert, 47, a former Marine and the leader of the Project 7 militia was released in 2010 after eight years in prison for illegal firearms possession. Last June, Burgert led law enforcement on a chase, before shooting at the officers and fleeing into the woods. Local authorities plan to continue the search when new leads arise.

Police in Cherry Hill, N.J., have upgraded charges over a series of vandalisms against local Christian sites to a hate crime. In the course of a week, six cases of vandalism have taken place against Christian shrines, including one instance in which more than 30 statues were damaged at a church. Police are still searching for the suspect.

New evidence was released by prosecutors to bolster their position that members of the Alaska Peacekeepers Militia should not be granted bail. The evidence confirms the group’s plans to kidnap and even kill police officers and government officials if they attempted to arrest any of the militia’s members. It also includes a photographic inventory of the group’s arsenal of small arms and grenades and a white board detailing how the militia’s “security team” should deal with law enforcement officials.

A Boulder, Colo., woman has been charged with attempting to extort a Latino couple by threatening to turn them in to immigration authorities. Abigail Jane Suber allegedly told the couple that if they did not admit fault in a vehicle collision, which she was responsible for, and pay her $400, she would call immigration authorities on them. Suber has been charged with felony extortion.

( continue to full post… )