Two Alaska militia members convicted of conspiracy to commit murder

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/19/us-usa-milita-alaska-idUSBRE85I00L20120619

ANCHORAGE, Alaska | Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:05pm EDT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - The leader of an Alaska militia group and one of his followers were found guilty on Monday of conspiracy to commit murder and various weapons offenses in a plot to kill government officials and law enforcement officers.

But a U.S. District Court jury in Anchorage failed to reach a unanimous verdict on a murder conspiracy charge against a third co-defendant in a case that federal prosecutors said highlighted a rise in anti-government militancy in recent years.

The prosecution of Schaeffer Cox, 28, founder of the Alaska Peacekeepers Militia, and two followers, tested the limits of free-speech rights and the point at which violent talk can be interpreted as a threat to act violently.

Cox and his co-defendants, Lonnie Vernon, 57, and Coleman Barney, 38, stood trial for six weeks on conspiracy to commit murder and other charges stemming from what prosecutors described as a plot to kill judges, Alaska state troopers and other government officials.