Militia Defendant & Wife Will Change Plea
Lonnie Vernon, one of three defendants in the recent 2-4-1 militia trial, and his wife Karen, are currently charged with an alleged plot to murder a federal judge overseeing a tax case against the couple. According to court documents filed on Thursday, they will be changing their pleas on Monday in U.S. District Court. Of the eight counts against them, it is unclear which plea(s) they will change. There were eight counts filed against Lonnie Vernon including charges of conspiracy to murder federal officials, threatening to murder family members of a federal judge, conspiracy to possess an unregistered firearm and…
Back to the Sidewalk – Again!
The high drama of last summer’s sidewalk sitting may be back again in September. Mayor Dan Sullivan didn’t like that a homeless man protesting his draconian attitudes and policies toward the homeless was sitting outside City Hall on the sidewalk. He glowered out of his window in the tall tower, gazing to the sidewalk below and decided to bring the long arm of the law down upon the lowly “protester.” And then, to the mayor’s horror, he realized that there was actually no law prohibiting Anchorage residents from sitting on the sidewalk. It really hadn’t been an issue during the…
Mudflats ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Coverage
TheMudflats.net and yours truly have been singled out for honor by the prestigious magazine The Atlantic this week. Was it for our amazing investigative reporting? For the awesome photo spreads we do? In depth coverage of the proposed Pebble Mine? Unfortunately, no. It’s because I nearly got my head beat in at Occupy Wall Street. I’ve written about 15,000 words, and taken about a terabyte of photos at OWS over the past year – witnessed the worst and best of America, broke news stories, got shots that no one else did – and yet this is what we get singled…
Convicted Militiaman Schaeffer Cox Fires Attorney
Schaeffer Cox, who was recently found guilty in federal court on multiple counts including conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, and various weapons charges, has fired his attorney Nelson Traverso. In papers filed today, Traverso moved to withdraw from the case since Cox has discharged him from representation. “Mr. Cox is extremely dissatisfied with counsel’s representation and expressly requests that any further attorney-client representation be terminated,” Traverso said in his motion to withdraw from the case. He has been Cox’s attorney since March 23, 2011. Cox, who is currently being held at the Anchorage Correctional…
Militia Trial – Barney Will Not Be Retried
~Coleman Barney (L) and Schaeffer Cox (R) in Fairbanks last year Twenty verdicts were handed down by the jury last week in the Alaska Peacemakers Militia Trial against defendants Schaeffer Cox, Coleman Barney, and Lonnie Vernon. But on the twenty first charge, the jury was deadlocked. Cox and Barney took the stand in their own defense during the trial. Barney was widely regarded to have been a strong witness. Cox and Vernon were found guilty on conspiracy to commit murder which potentially carries with it a life sentence. But they could not reach a verdict concerning the third defendant…
Oh. My. Todd. Palin to Appear on Game Show.
(Please let this be photoshopped) Alaska’s former First Dude, Todd Palin, has been trying to get his own TV show for some time now. It may surprise you, but he has not met with success thus far. His wife, of course, tormented us all with pretending to “shoot a gun” on a caribou hunt, pretending to “climb a dangerous mountain,” float past a dangerous bear, and show that she is better suited for camping in the rain than city girl celebrities with dozens of children in tow – also known as “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” His daughter Bristol even has her…
Recount Team Meets with the Anchorage Assembly
(Tonight at the Anchorage Assembly Meeting, the Members will hear and vote upon a Resolution (9.B.7), submitted by Assemblywoman Gray-Jackson and co-sponsored by Harriet Drummond and Patrick Flynn, that is intended to refund the $1,500.00 the Recount Application Group submitted to the Municipality. The money was required by Title 28 in order to request and generate the hand count of 15 precincts. The Resolution was a result of the report and meeting described in the post below. It will be interesting to see who, if anyone, votes against it.) The Election Board Counts Precinct 840, Service High On Friday, June…
Militia Trial – The Verdicts are In
After six weeks of listening to testimony, and weighing the evidence, the jury in the case of the United States v. Schaeffer Cox, Coleman Barney, and Lonnie Vernon has reached a decision in all but one of the charges against the three. I entered the courtroom, after almost two weeks out of state. I’d been following the reports of the trial closely, and was glad to be able to be here for this important day. Schaeffer Cox looks ashen, and is wearing a charcoal grey suit jacket and white shirt, open at the collar. Coleman Barney’s brow is deeply…
Militia Trial: Cox’s 2nd in Command Testifies
FBI informant Bill Fulton was the star of the show on the last day of court this week, no doubt about that. But, we shouldn’t overlook the rest of the witnesses because there were some good ones. The morning started with motions from the defense, which the judge resolved by mid-morning. I wrote about that HERE. Next up were a string of witnesses for the defense, beginning with Mr. Harold M. Hume, Jr. of Fairbanks who was completely adorable, and I basically wanted to adopt him as my grandpa. He’s actually probably closer to being the age of my dad,…
Militia Trial – FBI Informant Bill Fulton Speaks
Next up for the defense: Bill Fulton This is the one I’d been hoping for. Insider turned state’s evidence for immunity Michael Anderson, FBI informant for leniency in another case JR Olson, and FBI informant Bill Fulton were the three big witnesses for the prosecution. Or so we thought. It turned out that the prosecution did not call Fulton as a witness. This seemed rather odd. Why not call your own informant as a witness? There were disturbing tales of Fulton’s behavior. Nobody seemed to like him. He was described as abrasive, a drunkard, nasty, violent and mean. Michael Anderson…