GREENBELT, Md. — Prosecutors brought in four assault-style weapons, body armor and illegally purchased parts that could make a weapons silencer, all to present their case that an accused domestic terrorist should be kept in jail through trial.
After weeks of suspense, U.S. District Judge George Hazel ruled that Coast Guard Lt. Christopher Hasson should remain in federal custody, overruling a surprise decision in April that laid the groundwork for Hasson to be released.
The intensity in the federal courtroom Monday was palpable, as Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Windom presented to the court military-grade body armor seized by the FBI.
“This is not intended for hunting, unless you’re hunting people,” Windom said. “You wear this body armor to hunt people, not animals.”
Authorities arrested Hasson at his Silver Spring home in February, accusing him of plotting to kill at least two Supreme Court justices, high-profile Democratic politicians and news anchors from CNN and MSNBC.
Prosecutors levied weapons and drug charges against the Marine Corps veteran, but declined to bring any charges linked to domestic terror, such as attempted murder, stalking of potential targets, or conspiracy to commit mass murder.
Because of the relatively minor charges brought against Hasson, his public defender argued he should be released from jail – an argument accepted by the first judge tasked with beginning the proceedings.
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But prosecutors appealed the ruling to the second judge who would oversee the trial – District Judge Hazel – who said Hasson was too dangerous to be released to family members in Virginia.
“While we begin with the presumption of innocence, we also must consider the potential for danger and the likelihood of flight,” Hazel said. “Lt. Hasson had 15 firearms and 1,000 rounds of ammo, likely to be used for a criminal act.”
Prosecutors raised the already elevated stakes of potentially freeing Hasson – revealing two modified weapons in Hasson’s possession have not been found, even after months of investigation by the ATF and FBI.
The prosecution also revealed that federal authorities had such concern about Hasson that they clandestinely put a GPS monitor on his car months before his arrest, installed cameras monitoring his home and placed cameras inside his Coast Guard office.
All of those measures were approved by U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Day, who would later rule during an April 25 proceeding that Hasson’s charges were inappropriate to keep him in jail.
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Public defender Liz Oyer argued that authorities wanted to keep Hasson behind bars based on a “gut feeling” rather than evidence.
When asked about Hasson’s hit list, Oyer replied, “In this day in age, it’s not unusual for people to make lists of people they don’t like.”
Hasson also read the manifesto of Norwegian white nationalist Anders Breivik on his work computer. Prosecutors presented evidence that Hasson accelerated his weapons purchases after reading the manifesto, and would search online for topics based on Breivik’s past statements.
“It may be an odd thing to read, but it’s not unlawful,” Oyer said.
Hasson’s wife and other family members sat as close to him as they could in court, and declined to comment about the proceedings.