Alaska duo jailed for murder conspiracy
2013-01-08 13:30
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Anchorage - A Fairbanks-area man convicted of plotting to
kill federal judges and other government officials was sentenced on Monday to
nearly 26 years in prison, while his wife was sentenced to 12 years for her
part in the conspiracy.
Lonnie Vernon, 57, a member of an anti-government group
called the Alaska Peacekeepers Militia, was convicted last summer of conspiring
to murder federal and state law-enforcement agents, judges and other officials
and of amassing an arsenal of illegal weapons to carry out those plans.
In a separate case, Vernon and his wife, Karen, pleaded
guilty to plotting to kill US District Judge Ralph Beistline, members of
Beistline's family - including young grandchildren - and other government
employees in retaliation for the judge's rulings on the couple's income tax
case.
When the two were arrested in March of 2011, they had
weapons and a Fairbanks map with homes of Beistline's family marked and routes
to those homes highlighted.
Outraged
Lonnie Vernon, a member of a "sovereign
citizens" movement that considers individuals to be separate nations,
spoke out angrily at the hearing, where he received combined sentences in both
cases against him.
In sometimes profanity-laced comments, he railed against
the prosecutors, the agents who investigated him and even his own public
defenders, and he said he did not recognize the judge's authority over him.
Attorney M J Haden, who represented him, said the defence
was disappointed at the sentence. She said she was not sure if Vernon's
courtroom outbursts had affected the outcome.
"I can say it probably didn't help," she said.
Karen Vernon, in contrast, was tearful and apologetic at
her afternoon sentencing hearing and said she never meant to hurt anyone.
"I also apologise to my family and friends for the
shame and embarrassment that this has caused," she said.
US District Judge Robert Bryan, who imposed the
sentences, said the Vernons' crimes had been grave.
"This was a most serious offence. It was a
conspiracy, I'm afraid, that was well on its way to possible conclusion, with
horrible results," Bryan said.
Co-defendants
Also convicted at last summer's trial were two of
Vernon's co-defendants.
The militia's 28-year-old leader, Schaeffer Cox, was
convicted of conspiracy to murder, solicitation to commit murder and various
weapons charges. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday; prosecutors are
seeking a 35-year prison term.
Militia member Coleman Barney was convicted at trial of
weapons charges, but jurors deadlocked on a murder-conspiracy charge. He was
sentenced in September to five years in prison, and prosecutors have dropped
the murder-conspiracy charge against him
