Tuesday December 12, 2017
Three Kansas men charged with planning to blow up a mosque and an apartment complex housing Muslim Somali immigrants told a federal judge Friday they want Trump voters on the jury.
Gavin Wright, Patrick Stein, and Curtis Allen — who were part of a militia group called “the Crusaders”— are charged with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction.
They’re accused of planning to detonate truck bombs in Garden City the day after the 2016 presidential election. The men have pleaded not guilty.
The defense filed a motion arguing it would be discriminatory to include jurors from urban communities as opposed to those from conservative areas that likely voted for President Trump.
“This case is uniquely political because much of the anticipated evidence will center around, and was in reaction to, the 2016 Presidential election,” defense attorneys wrote in the court filing.
The U.S. attorney’s office said it was looking into the motion. The men hoped the plot would “wake people up” and inspire others to attack Muslims.
The group also worried President Barack Obama would declare martial law if Trump won the election, a lawyer for Wright said.
Their trial is expected to begin on March 19.