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Alleged militia members due in court to challenge detention
By: cnn.comPosted On: 04/27/2010 11:39 A
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Nine alleged members of an anti-government militia are due in federal court Tuesday to challenge being held without bond pending their trial on a variety of charges.
Nine alleged members of an anti-government militia are due in federal court Tuesday to challenge being held without bond pending their trial on a variety of charges.
The charges range from conspiring to overthrow the government to attempted use of weapons of mass destruction.
A similar hearing earlier this month for David Bryan Stone Sr., 45, the alleged head of the so-called Hutaree militia, and his co-defendants prompted government prosecutors to play a secretly recorded audiotape in which Stone expresses anger over the "new world order" and the "brotherhood" of law enforcement officers.
"In this nation, we think we are free, but you need a certificate to be born, a license to drive, a permit to build, a number to get a job and even a paper after you die," says Stone on the tape. He is accused of conspiring to overthrow the government and plotting to kill police officers.
"These are permission slips from the terrorists organization called the new world order," Stone says in the tape, which was recorded clandestinely by an FBI agent who infiltrated the militia and which was obtained by CNN.
At that hearing on April 2, prosecutors argued that the defendants would be a danger to the community and a flight risk if they were freed on bail before trial.
A federal magistrate in Detroit, Michigan, agreed and ordered the suspects to be held in jail pending their trial.
On Tuesday afternoon, the defendants are scheduled to be in U.S. District Court in Detroit, to challenge their detention without bond before Judge Victoria A. Roberts.
Stone, his sons, Joshua, 21, and David Brian Stone Jr., 19; as well as the eldest Stone's wife, Tina Stone, 44, have been charged with seditious conspiracy, attempted use of weapons of mass destruction, teaching the use of explosive materials and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence.
Alleged militia members Joshua John Clough, 28; Kristopher Sickles, 27; Michael David Meeks, 40; Jacob Ward, 33; and Thomas Piatek, 46, face the same charges.
The defendants have pleaded not guilty.
At the earlier hearing, prosecutors said the tape of Stone was recorded last winter when Hutaree members were driving to Kentucky for a meeting with other militias but were forced to turn back due to bad weather. Stone allegedly gave a speech inside the van.
"People in this nation as well as some around this world are waiting for those individuals like you see sitting in this room to actually make the decision to go to war against this evil, greedy new world order," Stone says on the tape.
"They need leaders who are not afraid to stand up and actually mean, 'No more.' We are free, and we should not be afraid or ashamed to admit that we are the American militia. We outnumber them. As long as we let them terrorize any American through fear and intimidation, then they are winning this battle and we should step up to the fight that they have started and finish it."
Defense attorneys dismissed the tape as just talk, and talk protected under freedom of speech.
But prosecutors have portrayed the Hutaree militia as a dark-hearted group with evil intent.
They said Stone's plan was to create his own country carved out of four Michigan counties, then defend that country against attack by the "One World Order" army.
The group allegedly planned to incite that attack by making a false 911 complaint, shooting any police officer who responded, and then attacking attendees at the funerals of those officers with improvised explosive devices.
Conviction on the charge of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction would carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, while seditious conspiracy and teaching the use of explosive materials each would carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
The firearm charge would carry a mandatory minimum penalty of at least five years in prison, according to authorities.
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