An Anchorage jury convicted Fairbanks militia leader Schaeffer Cox and two of his confederates on most of the charges they faced, leaving them looking at the possibility of long prison terms when they are sentenced in September.
Anchorage Daily News
"The prosecutors withheld evidence from you guys!" Cox shouted to the jury.
"Mr. Cox, please," said the judge. Cox looked down and covered his face. The next time he looked up, his eyes were red.
Poor baby.
The most serious charge was conspiracy to murder a federal official - a law enforcement officer.
Oh, and Mr. Cox has contacts with the staff of a former half-term governor and the most recent GOP Senate candidate:
ADN
Fulton told jurors he first met Cox at the 2008 state Republican convention. He and Cox were introduced by Fairbanks lawyer Joe Miller and Sarah Palin aide Frank Bailey.
H/T Marigold in the comments
What brought Cox to the FBI's attention was not his opinions but rather his boasting:
Cox was a charismatic leader who almost won the Republican primary in Fairbanks for a state House seat in 2008, and he came to the attention of the FBI after a series of speeches to militia and conservative organizations in Montana.
The investigation had nothing to do with Cox's radical doctrines, an FBI agent testified. Rather, it was Cox's claim, proven to be grossly exaggerated, that he had 3,500 men in arms in Fairbanks who were willing to kill to protect liberty, and that his force had mines and automatic weapons.
Do you suppose that claiming you have an armed force 70 times the size of the local police department (Fairbanks PD: 51 officers) might attract someone's attention? Imagine if Occupy Wall Street had claimed to have 2,400,000 people ready to kill to preserve liberty, armed with mines and automatic weapons. Sean Hannity would have wet himself screaming in terror.
Cox created or played a leadership role in at least five separate activist organizations in Fairbanks. The Interior Alaska Conservative Coalition kicked him out in 2010 when Cox began advocating "bloody revolution" and the overthrow the government, a board member testified at the trial.
On the other hand, Cox evidently has a sense of humor.
In December of 2010, Cox assembled with members of the Alaska Assembly Post in the back of a Denny’s for a “common law court” that would “try” Cox for a weapons charge against him. He was unanimously acquitted by the “jury,” which he brought up in a hearing that same month in District Court in Alaska. He told the judge that the courts did not have any jurisdiction over him.
TPM
I have to admit that a guy who calls his friends together at Denny's, talks about the charges against him, has his friends find him "not guilty", and then tells a real judge that he's already been acquitted - that's funny, in a "contempt of court" sort of way.
The indictment alleges that with the Alaska Assembly Post, Cox formed a military arm, legal arm, judiciary and even his own currency, in preparation for a government take-over or to form a new government in the event of a “government collapse.” Cox also created a list of state and federal government employees — including U.S. Marshals, employees of the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection, and Alaska State Troopers — and gathered personal information about them “so that Cox and others could kill them in the event of a ‘government collapse,’” the indictment alleges.
But there's no right-wing terrorism in this country. There's no chance of right-wing violence. We have no need to worry about people like Schaeffer Cox and their friends, even if those friends are numbered in the dozens rather than the hundreds. There's no right-wing terrorism, and they are prepared to kill anyone who says there is.
Oh, and BTW, let me go back up and highlight this:
Cox was a charismatic leader who almost won the Republican primary in Fairbanks for a state House seat in 2008
Imagine how much fun Faux Noise would have with a Democrat being convicted of terror charges after almost winning a primary for state senator.