Alaska News

Lonnie Vernon of '241' trial requests move of second murder conspiracy case to Washington

Lonnie Vernon, who was convicted of conspiracy to murder federal officials along with militia leader Schaeffer Cox in the "241" murder conspiracy case, has asked that a second murder conspiracy case be relocated to Washington state, according to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Vernon's second trial, which centers on charges that he allegedly threatened to kill an Internal Revenue Service agent and U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline, is slated to begin September in Anchorage. Judge Beistline was handling a tax case against Vernon and his wife over failure to pay taxes for several years.

Vernon's attorney, Assistant Federal Defender M.J. Haden, cited extensive negative publicity in Alaska as the reason behind the move. In a request filed Thursday, Haden said the publicity has caused "irreparable harm in tainting the pool of prospective jurors."

"The events of the previous trial have certainly colored the community's perception in Alaska as far as Mr. Vernon is concerned," Haden wrote. "He has been branded by the press as a domestic terrorist and has been characterized as a tax protester who has no respect for the federal government."

Read more.

Need to catch up on the '241' conspiracy case? Find Alaska Dispatch's coverage, here. And read the story behind Vernon and Cox's sentencing, here.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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