Posted on 11/06/2008 10:22:36 AM PST by fella
Jury indicts 2 in scheme to slay 88 BY JOHN KRUPA
Posted on Thursday, November 6, 2008
A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted an Arkansas man and his Internet friend for plotting to launch a racially fueled killing rampage that also called for the assassination of Barack Obama.
The seven counts of federal law violations are: conspiracy to rob a federal firearms licensee; conspiracy to transport and the transportation of a firearm across state lines; conspiracy to transport and the transportation of a short-barreled shotgun across state lines; possession of a short-barreled shotgun; and making a threat against a major candidate for president.
The pair could face up to 50 years in prison if convicted on all counts, according to a news release issued by the office of Lawrence J. Laurenzi, acting U. S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee.
Paul Schlesselman, 18, of Helena-West Helena, and Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., are scheduled for arraignment this morning in federal court in Memphis. The charges will be formally read, and the pair are to enter pleas. It’s possible U. S. Magistrate Gerald Cohn could set a trial date.
The indictments came on the eve of a probable cause hearing scheduled for today.
Authorities arrested the pair on Oct. 22 in Tennessee and then charged them with crimes in a federal criminal complaint. Federal prosecutors would have had to outline their case against the pair at the probable cause hearing, and give the defense the chance to cross-examine. The indictments eliminate the need for the hearing.
Schlesselman’s public defender, Doris Holt, and Cowart’s attorney, Joe Byrd, did not return calls for comment late Wednesday. Leigh Anne Jordon, a U. S. attorney’s office spokesman, declined to comment on the case.
According to the federal news release, the indictment said the pair planned over the Internet for more than a month to steal weapons from a gun store in Madison County, Tenn. The indictment said the pair had photographs and a floor plan of the store.
In all, Schlesselman and Cowart wanted to kill 88 black people, beheading 14 of them, according to authorities. The numbers have significance in the white-power movement, the authorities said.
The indictment also said the pair, on separate occasions, made threats to kill Obama.
The original criminal complaint said the pair told authorities that they planned to kill Obama in a drive-by shooting while wearing white tuxedos and top hats.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based nonprofit, has linked Cowart to the Supreme White Alliance, a group of white supremacists and skinheads.
The alliance acknowledged that Cowart was a probationary member, but said he was expelled in the spring. Alliance leaders denied any role in the alleged plot.
“I would call these guys pinheads but that would be sullying the word and an offense to Zippy and his pals.”
Funny, when we disrupted the FL conspiracy to bomb the airport, it was dismissed as a “bunch of losers” but we have these two knuckledraggers, without a brain cell between them and it is reported ad nauseum. Puleeze. this is insane, and I don’t think it is going to get better...
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