Holder smacked down over militia charges

[dogtowner]

could this AG be any less cometant ?

no, he could not

DETROIT — A federal judge on Tuesday gutted the government’s case against seven members of a Michigan militia, dismissing the most serious charges in an extraordinary defeat for federal authorities who insisted they had captured homegrown rural extremists poised for war.
U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts said the members’ expressed hatred of law enforcement didn’t amount to a conspiracy to rebel against the government. The FBI had secretly planted an informant and an FBI agent inside the Hutaree militia starting in 2008 to collect hours of anti-government audio and video that became the cornerstone of the case.

“The court is aware that protected speech and mere words can be sufficient to show a conspiracy. In this case, however, they do not rise to that level,” the judge said on the second anniversary of raids and arrests that broke up the group.

Roberts granted requests for acquittal on the most serious charges: conspiring to commit sedition, or rebellion, against the U.S. and conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. Other weapons crimes tied to the alleged conspiracies also were dismissed.

“The judge had a lot of guts,” defense attorney William Swor said. “It would have been very easy to say, ‘The heck with it,’ and hand it off to the jury. But the fact is she looked at the evidence, and she looked at it very carefully.”

 

[Pandora]

I was glad to hear about this outcome

 

[dogtowner]

I was glad to hear about this outcome

yes, it was the most brazen elitist witch hunting thing I've ever seen.

 

[Arbopa]

It seems the head of that group is a nutcase indeed, but the judge did find right in this case. So Holder goes after people he fears, but the black panthers are not a group he fears. Interesting.

 

[Texas_tea]

yes, it was the most brazen elitist witch hunting thing I've ever seen.

Really?

Remember Waco and Ruby Ridge ....
At least innocent women and children weren't slaughtered in this "brazen elitist witch hunt"!

 

[Texas_tea]

It seems the head of that group is a nutcase indeed, but the judge did find right in this case. So Holder goes after people he fears, but the black panthers are not a group he fears. Interesting.

Spot on ...

 

[dogtowner]

Really?

Remember Waco and Ruby Ridge ....
At least innocent women and children weren't slaughtered in this "brazen elitist witch hunt"!

THIS witch hunt was not limited to this militia. Besides, those other two were hits. No pretense of justice.

 

[Alias]

This administration needs to be removed. They're stupid and dangerous.

 

[dogtowner]

This administration needs to be removed. They're stupid and dangerous.

and criminal as we discover daily.

 

[Cruella]

I've often wondered what happened to those guys. I can't believe they've been sitting in jail all this time. Did this thing ever go to trial?

 

[dogtowner]

I've often wondered what happened to those guys. I can't believe they've been sitting in jail all this time. Did this thing ever go to trial?

the OP described the federal trial they were generally vindicated in.

 

[Alias]

This idiot in the White House can't even get Gitmo closed, and this after using Gitmo as a campaign issue and blasting Bush on it and promising the American people he would close it. God help us.

 

[dogtowner]

This idiot in the White House can't even get Gitmo closed, and this after using Gitmo as a campaign issue and blasting Bush on it and promising the American people he would close it. God help us.

gitmo was the biggest non-issue ever.

 

[Texas_tea]

I suppose it is a good thing that this "militia" group was arrested last year. Had they been arrested this year, post the signing of the NDAA into law, they would all still be sitting in prison for a falsely accused crime, potentially forever!