Hutaree Lawyers: Tapes Don't Prove A Plot
Lawyers in the Hutaree militia case are hoping to use the federal government's own secret recordings to get the case tossed out of court. Members of the Michigan-based group were arrested in an FBI raid last March.
Defense lawyers say one of the tapes, in particular, shows the group had no specific target in mind.
WWJ spoke with attorney Mike Rataj.
"There was never any over-arching plan to go out and overthrow the government. And when you like at ... we've look at the evidence in this case, us lawyers, and it's not there," Rataj said.
Defense lawyers are asking a judge for a special pre-trial hearing, in which government prosecutors would be forced to prove a conspiracy existed. And, according to Rataj, they won't be able to do that.
"They don't have the goods. They don't have the evidence, and that's why they're opposing such a hearing, because they know they can't carry their burden," he said.
Rataj said what's heard on the government's secret recordings is just talk, not a plot.
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