Feds: Militia members ready to ‘go to war’

DETROIT (AP) — Displaying guns, vests and other military gear, a prosecutor told jurors Monday that members of a Midwest militia were willing “to go to war” in an extraordinary plot to kill a police officer as a springboard to a broader rebellion against the U.S. government.

Some of the evidence was placed directly in front of the jury box as trial opened for seven members of a group called Hutaree, who are charged with conspiring to commit sedition as well as weapons crimes.

Still, defense attorneys dismissed any talk by the defendants as little more than fantasy and equated the group more to a “social club” than a militia.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Graveline said the anti-government Hutaree was looking for some type of conflict to trigger an attack — maybe a traffic stop, a search warrant or a dispute between authorities and another militia.

“They wanted to start an armed confrontation. ... The war to them meant patriots rising up against the government,” said Graveline, who held up automatic weapons and other items seized after nine people were arrested in southern Michigan, Indiana and Ohio in March 2010.

The defendants are accused of conspiring to someday ambush and kill a police officer, then attack the funeral procession with explosives and trigger a broader revolt against the U.S. government.

Tags: news, militia, detroit, crime