Time: Mon Jun 02 05:17:49 1997 by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id FAA12501; Mon, 2 Jun 1997 05:15:37 -0700 (MST) Date: Mon, 02 Jun 1997 05:12:30 -0700 To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: Militias set up by Feds (a/k/a entrapment.) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit <snip> > >>>> Militia Watch: How far should government's >>>> anti-terrorism efforts go? >>>> 12.29 p.m. EDT (1629 GMT) May 31, 1997 >>>> PHOENIX (AP) — They'd come to hate him soon enough. But for six >>>> months last year, members of the Viper Team regarded the >>>> newcomer they called "Doc'' as a welcome addition to their >>>> secretive militia group. >>>> Tattooed, quietly confident and well-versed in weaponry, Doc so >>>> impressed his fellow Vipers that they made him their chief of >>>> security just six weeks after he joined. >>>> He helped organize camp-outs in the desert, where Vipers fired >>>> machine guns and blew up cactuses with homemade bombs. During >>>> Viper meetings, Doc could be counted on to steer rambling >>>> discussions back to business, suggesting that the group set goals, >>>> form a plan or even start a second team. >>>> Last July, when federal officials rounded up the Vipers on weapons >>>> and explosives charges, Doc was there, too — but not in handcuffs. >>>> The model militiaman was actually an infiltrator of the sort he had >>>> vowed to kill, an undercover agent in the government's campaign to >>>> prevent domestic terrorism. >>>> Since the Oklahoma City bombing in April 1995, the federal >>>> government has stepped up surveillance of right-wing militia and >>>> patriot groups that share the anti-government leanings attributed to >>>> Timothy McVeigh. >>>> The goal is to uncover the next terrorist plot before it is carried out. >>>> But now some say that such efforts, however nobly intended, have >>>> gone too far. >>>> While the militia set's fiery rhetoric and penchant for guns is a >>>> frightening combination for many Americans, neither wild speech >>>> nor gun ownership is illegal, and civil libertarians worry that the >>>> government is targeting fringe groups not for what they do but for >>>> what they say. >>>> Defense attorneys claim the militia threat is overblown, saying their >>>> clients are just big talkers until pushed into committing crimes by >>>> undercover "agent provocateurs'' sent by the government. >>>> Of course, defense attorneys are paid to say that, but judges and >>>> juries appear to be finding at least some merit in such arguments. >>>> In four major raids on militias during the past year — in Georgia, >>>> Washington, West Virginia and Arizona — the government's initial >>>> portrayals of terrorist cabals plotting violent rebellion have been >>>> clouded later in court by mistrials, mixed verdicts and skeptical >>>> judges. >>>> Three members of the 112th Georgia Militia were indicted in May >>>> 1996 on charges that they conspired to stockpile pipe bombs and >>>> assassinate federal officials "starting at the highest level.'' But >>>> authorities later conceded there were no concrete assassination >>>> plans, and the militia members claimed entrapment by an informant >>>> who boasted of being a "master chef'' in bomb-making. >>>> A jury last November convicted the three of possessing pipe bombs >>>> and conspiring to use them in a violent crime. But they were >>>> acquitted on the charge pointing most directly to terrorism: >>>> conspiracy to use explosives against federal employees or property. >>>> A Seattle jury was similarly torn in the February trial of Washington >>>> State Militia founder John Pitner and six others. They were accused >>>> of plotting to make pipe bombs in a conspiracy to harm federal >>>> agents and foil the invasion of United Nations troops they allegedly >>>> expected across the Canadian border. >>>> At trial, however, a key informant was portrayed by the defense as >>>> a convicted bad-check artist who lied to his FBI handlers. The jury >>>> convicted four defendants on charges of possessing illegal weapons, >>>> but deadlocked on the conspiracy charge against all seven. A retrial >>>> is set for this summer. >>>> In West Virginia, Mountaineer Militia leader Floyd Ray Looker and >>>> six others were arrested in October after an undercover FBI agent >>>> claiming to represent a Mideastern terrorist group gave Looker >>>> $50,000 for photographed blueprints of an FBI fingerprint center in >>>> Clarksburg, W.Va. >>>> One of the federal charges Looker will face at trial in August >>>> invokes a 1994 anti-terrorism law that prohibits providing "material >>>> support'' to terrorists. But a federal magistrate expressed >>>> reservations about the way prosecutors are using the previously >>>> untested law, and defense attorneys already are preparing for an >>>> appeal. They argue the statute is so broad that someone could be >>>> charged for giving a would-be terrorist a newspaper photo of the >>>> U.S. Capitol. >>>> In Phoenix, federal officials held a triumphant news conference >>>> after the Vipers were arrested to announce they'd foiled a plot to >>>> blow up government buildings. While investigators seized truckloads >>>> of guns and bomb-making ingredients from the Vipers' suburban >>>> homes, President Clinton thanked federal agents who had averted >>>> "a terrible terrorist attack.'' >>>> The actual indictment, however, cited the Vipers on lesser >>>> conspiracy, weapons and explosives charges. Investigators >>>> conceded the group neither posed an imminent threat nor had a >>>> specific plot, and a federal judge released half the Vipers on bail, >>>> saying they posed no danger to society. >>>> Ten Viper Team members, offering guilty pleas in hopes of >>>> leniency, were sentenced in March to prison terms ranging from >>>> one to nine years. Two others, Charles Knight and Christopher >>>> Floyd, chose to fight the single charge facing them: conspiracy to >>>> manufacture and possess illegal explosives. >>>> Knight's trial, scheduled to resume Tuesday following a two-month >>>> delay, offers a rare glimpse into the clandestine world of undercover >>>> operations, where government agents walk a fine line between >>>> revealing criminal activity and encouraging it. >>>> The man the Vipers knew as Doc was actually John Schultz, a state >>>> game warden working under the direction of the federal Bureau of >>>> Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. >>>> Schultz took the Viper Team oath in December 1995 and quickly >>>> became a respected team member — all the while secretly >>>> recording or videotaping nearly every meeting. >>>> Transcripts of those tapes show he was more than a passive >>>> observer. In a group that could spend most of an evening debating >>>> the design and cost of Viper Team patches, he repeatedly steered >>>> members into discussions that could be used to bolster conspiracy >>>> charges against them. >>>> "Did anybody ever sit down and just come up with a plan on where >>>> you were when you started, where you want to be at a certain point >>>> in time?'' Schultz asked at one meeting. "Is there a big picture that's >>>> been formulated at all?'' >>>> Others said there was no plan. >>>> "Maybe we ought to do that,'' he said. >>>> Another time, he pressed for details about crimes the Vipers might >>>> commit following a national disaster of the sort they feared — a >>>> U.N. invasion, perhaps, or widespread race riots. >>>> "You're talking (about stealing) food, gasoline, you're talking a >>>> crime, yes?'' he said. "Why not a bank? Why draw a line?'' >>>> Schultz's supervisor, ATF agent Steve Ott, has testified that Schultz >>>> brought up the bank-robbery idea only "to ascertain what their >>>> mind-set was.'' >>> >> >> >> > >
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