An arsenal of hate and a tortured mind ( Somewhat Ambiguous Nashville Sentencing)

The Tennessean (ugh) ^ | 3-18-04 | Johnson

[wardaddy]

By ROB JOHNSON Staff Writer

Federal judge weighs evidence of mental illness, weapons stashes to determine a defendant's fate

Michael Smith had pulled his Ford Contour up a Bowling Avenue median and stopped. Outside his driver's-side window he could see a brick wall emblazoned with the words ''Gan Yeladim'' and ''The Abraham and Olga Heller Pre-School.''

''Gan Yeladim'' means Garden of Children.

On this leafy street in Nashville's Richland neighborhood, Smith could study the Jewish school while traffic was forced to squeeze past him awkwardly on the right. One of those passing motorists saw the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle on Smith's lap, the barrel pointed toward the school.

The motorist in a white car watched as Smith gestured to him. Smith drove forward, made a U-turn and eventually pulled onto West End Avenue. By then, the driver had noted the Contour's license plate and flagged down a Metro police officer.

By midafternoon, Michael Smith was in custody, starting a legal case that ended yesterday with his sentencing in federal court.

[wardaddy]

I found this a very odd case. The Fed Sentencing Guidelines set a min-man for this obviously disturbed fellow. Odd that he was there and in my mind contemplating something not good and how they managed the charge from there.

Unusual too that the judge called for a future reduction if his mental health improves with treatment (not likely in the joint).

Of course the usual association of guns, neo-nazism etc. with "right wing". I hate that...whoops, I forgot...I can't hate. I dislike that..sorry.

[NewRomeTacitus]

Well, you can't say he didn't take an interest in hobbies:

"Michael Smith's weapons cache was extensive, according to FBI agent J. Stephen Dickey and ATF agent Wayne Kilday.

Here a list of some of the items recovered from a variety of sites.

From a car:

• Loaded Colt AR-15 semiautomatic rifle with attached scope

• Loaded 9 mm Glock semiautomatic pistol

• Nikon Buckmaster laser range finder

• A sniper's sandbag to steady a rifle barrel

From an apartment:

• .50-caliber bolt-action rifle

• 11 improvised grenades, 10 of which were live

• Thousands of rounds of ammunition

• White supremacist literature ("Hunter" by Andrew McDonald and "Serpent's Walk" by Randolph D. Calverhall-both legal to purchase and own)

• Military sniper manuals

• Inert liquid explosives, which, when activated by mixing, would have been the equivalent of 50 sticks of dynamite

• Blasting caps and fuses

From a Brentwood storage locker:

• 13 pipe bombs

• Bomb-making equipment

• Survivalist gear

From eight ammunition boxes buried in a Maury County field:

• Two hand grenades fitted with military safety fuse

• Two gym bags filled with bomb-making materials — 20 pounds of potassium perchlorate and 20 pounds of aluminum powder.

• 2,080 rounds of .223-caliber ammunition

• 44 rounds of 9 mm ammunition

• 20 military smoke grenades

• Flares and blasting caps"