Members of Religious Militia Charged w/Plotting to Attack Cops, Cop Funerals

[The Bread Guy]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.....

One MSM brief

WHEATLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich.  (AP) - Prosecutors say members of a Christian militia group hoped to touch off an uprising against the U.S.  government by killing police officers.

Nine members of the Michigan-based Hutaree are in custody. They are accused of plotting to kill a police officer and slaughter scores more by bombing the funeral.

Prosecutors say the Hutaree were planning an attack sometime in April. During weekend raids in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, authorities seized guns but would not say whether they found explosives.

On its Web site, Hutaree says its name means "Christian warrior." The group quotes several Bible passages and declares that members are preparing to do battle with the Antichrist.

NY Times

David B. Stone Sr. and his wife, Tina, made no secret about the fact that they were part of a militia, neighbors say. The couple frequently let visitors in military fatigues erect tents in front of their trailer home at the intersection of rural dirt roads, and the sound of gunfire was routine.

A Michigan State Police tank headed down a street in Hillsdale County on Monday during a militia-related standoff.

“In Michigan, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal to be in a militia,” said Tom McDormett, a neighbor.

He added: “They would practice shooting, but that’s not a big deal. People do that all the time out here.”

But last Saturday night, Mr. McDormett watched through binoculars as the police raided the Stones’ home, tearing off plywood from the base of their two connected single-wide trailers to search under the floors. By Monday, the Stones were in green prison garb in a federal courthouse in Detroit, two of nine defendants facing sedition and weapons charges in connection with what Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. called an “insidious plan.”

In an indictment against the nine unsealed on Monday, the Justice Department said they were part of a group of apocalyptic Christian militants who were plotting to kill law enforcement officers in hopes of inciting an antigovernment uprising, the latest in a recent surge in right-wing militia activity ....

Primary resources:
Court documents

Hutaree web page (while it lasts, anyway) - "About Us" page (PDF also attached) - "Doctrine of the Hutaree" page (PDF also attached)

Hutaree Facebook page

18 U.S.C. § 2331 : US Code - Section 2331: Definitions (of terrorism)

.... the term "domestic terrorism" means activities that -
(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;
(B) appear to be intended -
(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and
(C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

 

[Greymatters]

Hmmm... they remind me of the Tremor brothers from 'Smokin Aces'...

 

[mariomike]

Security at police funerals must be a major concern.
At the police funeral in Ottawa this year it was estimated that thousands ( I have read various numbers, but all in the thousands ) of police attended.
"Firefighters and paramedics, along with other police services including the RCMP, will also join the funeral procession":
http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/rss/article/909862

 

[pbi]

What is it about the political culture in the US that generates groups like this? It's not just a reaction to Obama: these people have been around for decades. When I was in 1PP, a group down in Louisiana spread stories in the local area that a Partnership for Peace exercise we were involved in at Fort Polk LA was really a front for a UN attempt to infiltrate troops into the US in preparation for an invasion. How can people be so ignorant and readily gulled? (just the idea of the UN organizing anything is funny enough, never mind taking over the US...)What fuels their paranoia to the point that they think armed violence against their own government is a good idea?

Cheers

 

[The Bread Guy]

.... via the Detroit Free Press:

.... Nov. 15, 2008: Joshua Clough and David Stone Sr. appear on a Webcast describing a trip-wire system that would later be shown in a YouTube video they shot.

Dec. 8, 2008: Clough -- upset that the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had been poking around about gun ownership -- posts a message on a Web site that declares Hutaree members ready to go to war. Under the name Azuurlin, Clough allegedly writes: "We have and will return the fire -- the question is, will you?" That same day, prosecutors allege, Stone Sr. sends an e-mail to Hutaree members stating that the ATF was looking to start a "fire fight."

Early June 2009: Hutaree trains, during which time Stone Sr. allegedly tells the group that law-enforcement officials would be the first they would have to fight, followed by the "Blue Helmets" -- the term he had used to describe United Nations soldiers. About this time, the group creates a training video posted on YouTube.com that depicts Hutaree members fatally ensnaring one apparent law-enforcement official with a trip-wire explosive, while two more were ambushed in a field. At the video's end, the group burns the UN flag and puts a Hutaree flag in its place.

June 13, 2009: Members of the group meet for a training day in Clayton, where they divide into two squads -- one led by Stone Sr., the other by his son, Joshua Stone. David Stone Jr., Stone Sr.'s adopted son, serves as the squads' opposition force and demonstrates various explosives ....

More on link

 

[1feral1]

What is it about the political culture in the US that generates groups like this?

There's always been the ultra/super/extreme/finatical far, very far right wing nut jobs out there. In the US it goes back decades and decades, if not even longer.

In Canada, there must be something similar to some degree, but I can only recollect the Alberta militia thing a year or two ago.

Regards,

OWDU

 

[a_majoor]

Being exposed to the political process seems to be involved:

http://toledoblade.com/article/20100401/NEWS16/4010369

Most indicted members of militia group are voters
By TOM TROY
BLADE POLITICS WRITER

Most of the indicted militia members accused of being anti-government extremists have active voting records, a check with area voter registration offices showed yesterday.

One is a registered Democrat, and the party affiliations of the rest could not be determined.

Jacob J. Ward, 33, of Huron, Ohio, voted as a Democrat in the 2004 and 2008 primary elections. He also voted in 10 other elections since 2000. Party affiliation in Ohio is determined by which party's ballot they requested in the most recent primary election.

Alleged ringleader David Brian Stone, Sr., 45, of Clayton, Mich., registered in Lenawee County, Michigan, in 1998, and last voted in the 2004 general election.

His, and other Michigan voters' party affiliations, if any, are not public records because of Michigan's open primary elections, officials said.

Mr. Stone's son, David Brian Stone, Jr., 19, of Adrian, Mich., registered to vote in April, 2009.

David Stone, Sr.'s wife, Tina Mae Stone, 44, of Clayton, Mich., registered Dec. 29, 2009. A clerk in the Lenawee County clerk's office said records show that Ms. Stone was previously registered and most recently voted in 2008.

Mr. Stone's other son, Joshua Matthew Stone, 21, of Clayton, Mich., also registered to vote in December, 2009. There is no record of him having voted.

Kristopher T. Sickles, 27, of Sandusky, registered to vote in 2007 but has not voted, according to the Erie County Board of Elections.

Joshua John Clough, 28, of Blissfield, Mich., registered in 2000 and voted in both the primary and general elections of 2008, and in a February, 2010, election.

Michael David Meeks, 40, of Manchester, Mich., registered in 1989, and voted in both the primary and general elections of 2008, according to the Washtenaw County Clerk's Office.

The only one of the accused anti-government extremists with no record of registering to vote is Thomas William Piatek, 46, of Whiting, Ind.

Are all charged in U.S. District Court in Detroit with seditious conspiracy, attempting to use weapons of mass destruction, and two counts of possessing a firearm during a crime of violence.

Contact Tom Troy at:
tomtroy@theblade.com
or 419-724-6058.

 

[The Bread Guy]

This from the New York Times:

The Stone family, and the fiercely militant Christian group that revolved around them at a ramshackle homestead outside of town here, were best known by their neighbors for their active use of guns and their increasingly heated talk about fighting back violently against the government.

But their biggest and most surprising adversary was practically next door: the local branch of the Michigan Militia.

From a distance, the two might seem like peas in a pod: both wear fatigues or camouflage, train in the woods with heavy weaponry and believe in threats to liberty from Washington.

But here on the ground the distinctions were crucial. The Michigan Militia, which in past years had links to extremist groups with neo-Nazi flavorings, has moderated over the years, according to members and experts who track the organizations. Meanwhile, the Hutaree (pronounced Hu-TAR-ay), as the Stone group was called, was going the other direction, with increasing talk of violence.

The crucial moment of that tension came Saturday night when one of the Stone family members — desperate and on the run from the law — called the local militia commander, Matt Savino, and begged for help in getting guns or shelter. Mr. Savino offered neither, not only refusing to help but in fact calling the State Police, who passed the call to the F.B.I.

“This was a new situation for us, and we did what we thought was right,” Mr. Savino said ....

 

[Greymatters]

What is it about the political culture in the US that generates groups like this?

Its called 'freedom of speech' - unfortunately, they gave it to everybody.

Its a bit of a bad idea when you combine it with the right to bear arms, but it seems to work for them most of the time...

 

[pbi]

Its called 'freedom of speech' - unfortunately, they gave it to everybody.

Its a bit of a bad idea when you combine it with the right to bear arms, but it seems to work for them most of the time...

Freedom of speech makes people want to kill the police? Really?

This group doesn't just seem to be about speaking: they also seem (in an admittedly rather dimwitted, Trailer Park Boys kind of way) to be acting out and preparing themselves.

And what is it these people fear so much about the UN? (They've obviously never spent five minutes around a UN-run military operation).

Cheers

 

[The Bread Guy]

They let these guys out?  This from the BBC (highlights mine):

Nine alleged members of a radical US Christian militia group accused of plotting to wage war against the US have been freed from jail on bond.

A judge in Detroit ordered their release, despite prosecutors' objections, imposing strict conditions including electronic tagging.

The suspects - eight men and one woman - were detained in a series of FBI raids across the Mid-West in March.

They are said to belong to a Michigan-based militia called the Hutaree.

It is alleged they planned to kill a police officer in Michigan and then stage a second attack on the funeral, using landmines and roadside bombs.

Defence lawyers say it is just a case of hate-filled, irrational speech.

"The United States is correct that it need not wait until people are killed before it arrests conspirators," US District Judge Victoria Roberts said in her ruling.

"But, the defendants are also correct: Their right to engage in hate-filled, venomous speech, is a right that deserves First Amendment protection."

She said federal prosecutors failed to persuade her that the defendants must be jailed until trial, the Detroit Free News reports.

Conditions of their release include remaining under house arrest with electronic monitoring devices and reporting to the authorities every week .... The nine have been charged with conspiracy to commit sedition and attempting to use weapons of mass destruction ....

- edited to add following:

18 U.S.C. § 2384 : US Code - Section 2384: Seditious conspiracy:

If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

18 U.S.C. § 2332a : US Code - Section 2332A: Use of weapons of mass destruction:

(a) Offense Against a National of the United States or Within the United States.

- A person who, without lawful authority, uses, threatens, or attempts or conspires to use, a weapon of mass destruction -
(1) against a national of the United States while such national is outside of the United States;
(2) against any person or property within the United States, and
(A) the mail or any facility of interstate or foreign commerce is used in furtherance of the offense;
(B) such property is used in interstate or foreign commerce or in an activity that affects interstate or foreign commerce;
(C) any perpetrator travels in or causes another to travel in interstate or foreign commerce in furtherance of the offense; or
(D) the offense, or the results of the offense, affect interstate or foreign commerce, or, in the case of a threat, attempt, or conspiracy, would have affected interstate or foreign commerce;
(3) against any property that is owned, leased or used by the United States or by any department or agency of the United States, whether the property is within or outside of the United States; or
(4) against any property within the United States that is owned, leased, or used by a foreign government, shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, and if death results, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life.
(b) Offense by National of the United States Outside of the United States. - Any national of the United States who, without lawful authority, uses, or threatens, attempts, or conspires to use, a weapon of mass destruction outside of the United States shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, and if death results, shall be punished by death, or by imprisonment for any term of years or for life.
(c) Definitions. - For purposes of this section - (1) the term "national of the United States" has the meaning given in section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(22));
(2) the term "weapon of mass destruction" means -
(A) any destructive device as defined in section 921 of this title;
(B) any weapon that is designed or intended to cause death or serious bodily injury through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals, or their precursors;
(C) any weapon involving a biological agent, toxin, or vector (as those terms are defined in section 178 of this title); or
(D) any weapon that is designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life; and (3) the term "property" includes all real and personal property.

 

[The Bread Guy]

This seems to make more sense - from Reuters:

A U.S. appeals court on Thursday temporarily blocked the pretrial release of nine Midwestern militia members accused of plotting to kill police and wage a war against the government.

The members of a militia group called the Hutaree had been ordered freed on bond until their trial by a federal judge in Detroit who said prosecutors failed to persuade her that they were a danger to the community.

U.S. District Court Judge Victoria Roberts also said in a 36-page ruling on Monday that it was unclear if the militia members had conspired to break any laws though they may have engaged in "hate-filled, venomous speech."

Prosecutors appealed Judge Roberts' decision to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, which ordered her ruling "temporarily stayed pending further review and order of the court."

Roberts ordered their release subject to nearly three pages of conditions ranging from surrendering permits that allow them to carry concealed weapons, to seeking or maintaining jobs and in an individual case restricting access to the Internet.

All nine were charged with seditious conspiracy, attempting to use weapons of mass destruction, and possession of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. Some of the defendants face additional charges.

An indictment unsealed in late March accused the nine defendants of planning to kill a police officer in Michigan and then ambush the funeral procession using explosives in acts intended to bring about a wider uprising ....