Radical terror group raided! In Michigan.

[Theben]

LOL! Undercover federal agent playing along with the group so as to gain trust and not blow cover LOL! Good find HalfLotus LOL YAY

Asher you're so blind. Clearly agents of the federal govt were trying to create a group capable of overthrowing the federal govt... which is what HL seems to want anyway... why is he complaining again?

[HalfLotus]

Seems the government story on this "radical terror group" (booga, booga!) isn't holding up very well so far.

FBI agent short on details on militia inquiry

DETROIT - An FBI agent who led the investigation of nine Michigan militia members charged with trying to launch war against the federal government couldn't recall many details of the two-year probe yesterday during questioning by defense lawyers.

Even the judge who must decide whether to release the nine until trial was puzzled.

"I share the frustrations of the defense team … that she doesn't know anything," U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts said after agent Leslie Larsen confessed she hadn't reviewed her notes recently and couldn't remember specific details of the case.

...

The nine lawyers asked specific questions about each defendant. Ms. Larsen said she had not listened entirely to certain recordings made by an undercover agent who infiltrated the group.

She said that because they were still being examined, she didn't know if weapons seized by investigators last month were illegal.

At other times, Ms. Larsen couldn't answer questions because she said she hadn't reviewed investigative reports.

Defense lawyer William Swor asked if the No. 1 defendant, Hutaree leader David Stone, had ever instructed anyone to make a bomb.

"I can't fully answer that question," the agent replied.

This FBI tool led the investigation, and apparently hasn't even read his notes. Some serious booga, booga fail here.

[Flubber]

Halflotus you must not have any idea what the hell a sting is.

In related news Halflotus uncovers news that DEA undercover agents buy and sell drugs

[Heraclitus]

Should they only target "smart" criminals? Yes, retards are in the majority for these stings b/c you have to be a ****** to be of this mindset.

Sigh.


You guys do realize the goverments resources aren't limtless right? If they are too incompetent to cause trouble they are incompetent enough to be left along.


This is also true of most of the Third World.

[Heraclitus]

In related news Halflotus uncovers news that DEA undercover agents buy and sell drugs

The war on drugs is a stupidity so profound I need to state this outright it even when I am to lazy to argumenting my position in any way.

[Wezil]

Sigh.


You guys do realize the goverments resources aren't limtless right? If they are too incompetent to cause trouble they are incompetent enough to be left along.


This is also true of most of the Third World.

I don't think I said that. Retards can be dangerous.

[HalfLotus]

The Hutaree Case Falls Apart

Federal District Judge Victoria Roberts has ruled that the nine members of the so-called Hutaree Militia accused of plotting to wage war against the Regime can be released on bail. Prosecutors had argued that bail should be denied because the group posed a severe danger to public safety.

The Hutaree group is accused of “seditious conspiracy” — specifically, plotting to murder a law enforcement officer and then follow up with opportunistic attacks on other LEOs who would attend the funeral. This would supposedly precipitate a wide-scale revolt.

Conversations discussing that scenario were reported by a federal informant who infiltrated the group and thoughtfully offered to teach them how to make improvised explosive devices.

While federal prosecutors have provided ample evidence that members of the Hutaree are passionately anti-government — what decent person isn’t? — they haven’t been able to demonstrate that the group did anything more than engage in survivalist training and indulge in apocalyptic rhetoric.
Defense attorneys, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1969 Brandenburg v. Ohio decision, maintain that seditious speech — including speech that constitutes an incitement to violence — is protected by the First Amendment as long as it does not indicate an “imminent” threat.

The prosecutors’ brief, invoking the the 1995 seditious conspiracy trial of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, maintained that it was not necessary to demonstrate a threat of imminent harm, but rather only that the defendants had formed an “agreement to oppose by force the authority of the United States.”

(Incidentally, it was because of the CIA’s intervention that Rahman got a visa to enter the United States, where he became part of the radical Muslim terrorist cell that carried out the first World Trade Center attack in 1993; that cell included at least three others who had been on the payroll of U.S. intelligence.)

Judge Roberts didn’t find the government’s case compelling.

“Discussions about killing local law enforcement officers — and even discussions about killing members of the judicial branch of government — do not translate to conspiring to overthrow, or levy war against, the United States government,” she wrote, ordering that the Hutaree suspects be released on bail.

Since the federal case against the Hutaree rests entirely on what was said by the suspects, rather than anything specific that was done by them, it’s difficult to see what’s left of it.

[Guynemer]

What a fantastic unbiased news souce.

[HalfLotus]

Facts are facts.

[BeBMan]

But then you don't believe the articles you post.

[The Mad Monk]

HalfLotus, don't give them ammunition by quoting from blogs or opinion sites; your opponents will just mock you for the source and ignore the content.

Do a little work and find the info on "respectable" news sites, they have a harder time ignoring that.

Judge: Militia members can leave jail until trial
By ED WHITE (AP) – 20 hours ago

DETROIT — A judge ordered on Monday that nine jailed members of a Michigan militia be released, saying there's no risk to the public if they go home while awaiting trial on charges of trying to plot war against the government.

U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts overturned the April 2 decision of a federal magistrate judge and questioned the strength of the government's case. She said all nine can be released with electronic monitoring devices and other strict conditions.

They're being held in county jails in southeastern Michigan and won't actually go free until Tuesday, after they return to court to be processed, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

The government says the members of a southern Michigan militia called Hutaree are radicals who planned to kill police officers and more. They were charged in March with conspiracy to commit sedition and attempted use of weapons of mass destruction.

Defense lawyers, however, say it's just a case of irrational, hateful speech.

The government "need not wait until people are killed before it arrests conspirators," the judge said. "But the defendants are also correct: Their right to engage in hate-filled, venomous speech is a right that deserves First Amendment protection."

Roberts said prosecutors failed to show that jail was the only way to protect the public and ensure that the nine return for court hearings. She had heard nearly 10 hours of testimony and argument over two days last week as militia members appealed the earlier detention order.

"Discussions about killing local law enforcement officers — and even discussions about killing members of the judicial branch of government — do not translate to conspiring to overthrow, or levy way against, the United States government," the judge said Monday.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said an appeal was being considered.

Last week, Roberts had ordered the government to present an investigator who is familiar with the case, but FBI agent Leslie Larsen didn't reveal much from the witness stand.

Larsen, the lead agent, said weapons seized last month were still being examined. At other times, she couldn't answer questions because she hadn't lately reviewed investigative reports.

The judge said prosecutors failed to rebut the defendants' position that the only "live-fire training" amounted to shooting at dirt mounds on private property twice a year.

An undercover agent secretly recorded militia leader David Stone and others talking about killing police. But no specific names or dates were mentioned, and the conversations were sprinkled with laughs and a mix of subjects, such as strippers and drawing Hitler mustaches on photos of state troopers.

Stone's lawyer, William Swor, said they're grateful for Roberts' reversal of the detention order.

Stone will be in the custody of his 71-year-old father on Ray Stone's farm in Lenawee County, where they live in separate homes. He is barred from using a computer.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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