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                                                                                                 U.S. NEWS Wednesday 31 OctOber 2018

            Kansas militia men blame Trump's rhetoric

            for planned attack



            By ROXANA HEGEMAN
            WICHITA,  Kan.  (AP)  —  At-
            torneys  for  Kansas  militia
            members  who  conspired
            to  bomb  a  mosque  and
            apartment  complex  hous-
            ing Somali immigrants have
            asked  the  court  to  take
            into account at a sentenc-
            ing  hearing  next  month
            what they called President
            Donald Trump's rhetoric en-
            couraging violence.
            One  has  asked  the  judge   This combination of Oct. 14, 2016, file booking photos provided by the Sedgwick County Sheriff's
                                         Office in Wichita, Kan., shows from left, Patrick Stein, Curtis Allen and Gavin Wright, three members
            to  also  consider  the  fact   of a Kansas militia group who were charged with plotting to bomb an apartment building filled
            that all three men read and   with Somali immigrants in Garden City, Kan.
            shared  Russian  propagan-                                                                         Associated Press
            da on their Facebook feed
            designed to sow discord in  that  violence  against  the  who  is  now  our  president,"  evaluating the likelihood of
            the U.S. political system.   government or any person  according  to  a  sentenc-      an actual attack, they said.
            A  federal  jury  convicted  will not be tolerated.       ing  memorandum  written  Trump's  win  "changed  ev-
            Patrick  Stein,  Gavin  Wright  But  defense  attorneys  in  by  attorneys  representing  erything"   because   the
            and  Curtis  Allen  of  one  court  filings  Monday  and  Stein.                       men's  the  urgency  for  ac-
            count of conspiracy to use  Tuesday sought to human-      His  attorneys  said  Trump's  tion and the feeling of a los-
            a weapon of mass destruc-    ize their clients and spread  "rough-and-tumble     ver-  ing battle would be gone,
            tion and one count of con-   some of the blame.           bal  pummeling"  height-     they  argued.  Conspiracies
            spiracy  against  civil  rights  "The  court  cannot  ignore  ened  the  rhetorical  stakes  —  among  them  that  then
            in  April.  Wright  was  also  the  circumstances  of  one  for  people  of  all  political  President  Barack  Obama
            found guilty of lying to the  of  the  most  rhetorically  persuasions.  Stein  was  an  would not relinquish power
            FBI. The attack, planned for  mold-breaking,     violent,  early  and  avid  supporter  — would be disproven. He
            the day after the 2016 gen-  awful, hateful and conten-   for Trump, and his connec-   contended  the  discussed
            eral election, was thwarted  tious  presidential  elections  tion to Trump was "so com-  attack  likely  would  never
            by another member of the  in  modern  history,  driven  plete  and  long-standing"  have  happened  in  the
            group  who  tipped  off  au-  in  large  measure  by  the  that  Trump's  surprising  win  world  that  existed  after
            thorities  about  escalating  rhetorical  China  shop  bull  cannot  be  ignored  when  Trump's election.q
            threats of violence.
            U.S. District Judge Eric Mel-
            gren  will  consider  at  their
            sentencing on Nov. 19 and
            20  how  much  time  each
            man  will  spend  in  prison.
            Conspiracy to use a weap-
            on of mass destruction car-
            ries  a  possible  maximum
            sentence  of  life  imprison-
            ment,  while  the  sentence
            for  the  civil  rights  violation
            carries  no  more  than  10
            years.  The  sentencing  had
            previously been scheduled
            for Friday.
            Prosecutors are seeking life
            terms  for  all  three,  while
            defense attorneys are vari-
            ously  pleading  for  shorter
            terms of 15, 10 or even time
            served.
            The  government  pointed
            to  the  seriousness  of  the
            offense, which it says con-
            tinues  to  have  "a  deep,
            lasting  impact  on  the  vic-
            tims'  sense  of  security  in
            their  homes  and  at  their
            mosque.  It  also  wanted  to
            ensure the men can never
            threaten  the  safety  of  the
            public  again.  And  it  ar-
            gued for the need to send
            a strong deterrent message
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