Accused of conspiring to kill federal officials, Fairbanks militia leader Schaeffer Cox took the stand in his own defense Monday, telling jurors his group was designed to protect rather than attack.
"I don't think you can change the culture through violence," Cox said on Day 16 of the Anchorage trial. "The only time that the use of violence is morally justified is to stop someone from hurting you."
Cox is accused of weapons and conspiracy charges, along with fellow militia members Coleman Barney and Lonnie Vernon. Prosecutors say the men plotted to murder judges and law enforcement officials and amass illegal weapons.
The defense has tried to show that the militiamen never actually intended to hurt anyone.
In a dark gray suit and pink tie, the 28-year-old militia commander began his testimony early in the afternoon, often speaking directly to the jury as he answered questions from his lawyer.
"Do you believe in the use of violence against the government," asked the lawyer, Nelson Traverso.
"Yes and no," Cox replied.
"If your government is breaking the law, if they're (supporting) murders like they did in Syria, then yes," Cox said. "But no, because by breaking the law and turning murderous, they're not the government anymore, they're criminal."
Cox briefly described the structure of the Fairbanks militia, saying members were issued uniforms and achieved ranks based on tenure in the organization and other factors, such as bringing in a group of new recruits. Members wore shoulder patches embroidered with the slogan "defend all, aggress none," he said.
The Alaska Peacemakers Militia philosophy called for members to "establish friendly relations" with local officials, Cox said. Another stated goal: "Be ready and able to take care of your family if society broke down," he said.
Cox believes the nation, saddled with impossible debt, faces eventual economic collapse.
"Nobody from the government is going to show up and save you," Cox told jurors. "(You're) really just going to have your neighbors, and that was the point of the militia. To know your neighbors, so if it hits the fan, you're not meeting them for the first time."
There were few requirements for joining the group, Cox testified. Members had to be at least 18 years old, be male and take an oath to defend individual liberties. The group held some training sessions, particularly soon after forming, at shooting ranges or on rural properties, he said.
The training faded as the militia "became more social than serious," Cox said.
His testimony followed a series of defense witnesses, including a military police officer, an explosives expert and the owner of the Far North Tactical military surplus store, Aaron Bennett.
A part-time home builder and bounty hunter, Bennett appeared in court in jeans and a moose T-shirt. Tribal tattoos decorated the length of his arms. The North Pole resident told his side of a story that jurors have heard several times before over the course of the trial.
One day in the summer of 2010, Cox was invited to Bennett's Fairbanks store for a meeting with Anchorage surplus store owner William "Drop Zone Bill" Fulton. Bennett said he'd been told -- apparently by Fulton -- that Cox was planning to kidnap judges.
Bennett invited several people he thought the militia leader respected in hopes of confronting Cox about the dangerous scheme, he told the jury.
It was an act of self-defense, Bennett said. He didn't know that Fulton was secretly working as an FBI informant at the time but testified that he began to believe Fulton's story less and less over the course of the day.
How did Cox's face look when he was confronted at the meeting about the "so-called plan" to abduct judges, the defense lawyer asked.
"Surprise, at first, which turned to alarm, the more aggressive that Bill got insisting that (Cox) had this plan," Bennett said.
Cox's testimony consumed much of the afternoon as jurors learned more about the young militia commander and his Alaska upbringing. His father, a University Baptist Church pastor, sat in the third row of the gallery. The elder Cox raised his hand when his son mentioned his presence in the courtroom.
"I spent more time with my dad growing up than I did with any other person. And that was really precious time. That really shaped who I am," Cox said in a emotional display.
Cox said he'd always been interested in law and politics but became politically active when he and his wife volunteered with the Ron Paul presidential campaign in 2008. Cox, then in his mid-20s, attended a Republican convention in Anchorage and ran unsuccessfully for the state House in Fairbanks.
The defense capped the day by showing a long video recording of a speech Cox delivered three years ago in Montana. Jurors watched in the cool, darkened courtroom. Near the end of the clip, Cox can be seen telling the crowd about the militia he had formed back in Alaska, inflating the membership as much as a hundredfold.
"Instead of trying to create a third party, we made a second government," Cox says to applause.
The trial is expected to resume Tuesday.
By KYLE HOPKINS
Anchorage Daily News