Judge lifts stay, allowing release of jailed Mich. militia members charged with conspiracy

Judge lifts stay in Mich. militia case

DETROIT — A judge lifted a stay Wednesday night and cleared the way for nine members of a Michigan militia to be released from jail while awaiting trial on charges of conspiring to overthrow the government and weapons violations.

U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts rejected a request to keep them detained while prosecutors pursue an appeal of her order that releases the defendants with strict conditions, including electronic monitoring.

Roberts ruled about six hours after the government claimed the public could be at risk if she does not further suspend her Monday order and the militia members go home.

They won’t actually be free until they’re returned to federal court to be processed, which could happen Thursday. Meanwhile, prosecutors could ask the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati for an emergency stay blocking Roberts’ order.

“Defendants are presumed innocent of all charges against them. … This presumption of innocence is part and parcel of why, ‘In our society liberty is the norm, and detention prior to trial or without trial is the carefully limited exception,’” Roberts wrote, quoting a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

The members of the southern Michigan militia, called Hutaree, are charged with conspiracy to commit sedition, or rebellion, against the government and the attempted use of weapons of mass destruction. They have been in custody without bond since late March.

Authorities, citing secretly recorded conversations, say the group planned to kill a police officer and bomb the subsequent funeral. Defense attorneys say it was nothing more than hateful talk.

Prosecutors claim the suspects are too dangerous to be released from jail. But Roberts has set many restrictions and appointed third-party custodians, mostly family members, to keep watch.

“The defendants must be released,” the judge said Wednesday at the end of an eight-page decision.

An undercover agent infiltrated the group and secretly recorded some members talking about killing police and fearing a “New World Order.”

On Monday, Roberts said it was “offensive and hate-filled speech” but it did not signal a conspiracy to levy war against the government.

A message seeking comment Wednesday night was left with U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade.

“We’re grateful,” said William Swor, defense lawyer for militia leader David Stone, 44, of Clayton, Mich. “We think it’s another step toward vindication, but we have no delusion that this is over.”

Since a series of raids and arrests in late March, Hutaree members have been portrayed by the government as homegrown extremists out to strike at authorities. But evidence offered during the detention hearing pointed to no specific plot.

“The government’s position that the defendants sought to acquire explosive devices is weakened by the evidence that the agents found no explosive devices when defendants were arrested,” the judge said.

Roberts acknowledged she did not consider the “stockpiles” of legal firearms and ammunition possessed by militia members. But she noted there was no corroboration that the weapons were tied to any scheme to overthrow the government.

It’s rare for a federal appeals court to even be asked to review a ruling on pretrial detention.

“Judge Roberts did her homework and doesn’t want to be reversed. That’s why her (Monday) ruling is 36 pages long,” said Lloyd Meyer of Chicago, a former terrorism prosecutor. “Is this a ruling that no reasonable judge could issue? Did the judge abuse her discretion? Those are the questions the appellate court will need to answer.”