A subtle oddity in a conspicuous story

[nancylebov]

What's missing?

According to the Complaint, approximately one month ago, Cowart and Schlesselman met via the internet through a mutual friend and both claim to have very strong beliefs regarding "White Power" and "Skinhead" philosophy. Cowart and Schlesselman began discussing going on a "killing spree". The Complaint further alleges that Cowart and Schlesselman discussed robbing a gun shop (Federal Firearms Licensee) in order to gather weapons and ammunition. The Complaint notes the defendants were in possession of a sawed off shotgun.

On October 20, 2008, Cowart allegedly traveled from Tennessee to Arkansas to pick up Schlesselman in order to carry out their plan. The Complaint states that at this time, the defendants further discussed their killing spree to include targeting a predominately African American School and to continue their spree until their final act of violence which would be to attempt to assassinate Presidential Candidate Barack Obama.

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Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tennessee and Paul Schlesselman, 18, of West Helena, Arkansas were charged in a federal complaint, Friday, October 24, 2008 announced Lawrence J. Laurenzi, acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, James Cavanaugh, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Richard Harlow, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service- Memphis Field Office and Troy Klyce, Sheriff of Crockett County. The Criminal Complaint charges Cowart and Schlesselman with the illegal Possession of a Sawed off Shotgun, Conspiracy to Rob a Federal Firearms Licensee, and Making Threats Against a Major Candidate for the Office of President.

There is no charge about conspiring to kill black teenagers.

One of my friends claims that sometimes major charges are withheld in court cases for strategic reasons that I don't understand, so it's conceivable that my outrage is misplaced.
Even so, wouldn't it have shown more respect for the people of this country to withhold the charge about robbing the gun store and put the spree killing charge up front?

Comments

[madfilkentist]

My first reaction: Illegal possession of a weapon is a crime against the government. Conspiracy to commit murder is a crime against victims. We know which gets priority these days.

On the other hand, it's possible they don't really have a very solid case for the murder conspiracy charge. It can be very hard to tell from news reports.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Would conspiracy to murder be a Federal offence? I think not. It would have to be the state DA that brought that charge, I think.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

That's a possibility. I'll put a note on the main entry if that turns out to be true. It's still faintly surreal that robbing a gun store is a federal offense.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

It's a federally licensed gun store

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

A couple of thoughts: murder charges (and so presumably also conspiracy-to-murder charges) are state charges, not federal ones.

Also, it's entirely possible that the charge they've currently got them dead to rights on is the robbery. If the robbery charge is sufficient to hold the guys, then presumably the state and the feds can investigate the other stuff at greater leisure -- conspiracy charges being notoriously difficult to prove.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Murder is a state-level offense. Interestingly, some of the "hate crime" laws are federal, so you might be able to include those.

[madfilkentist]

When a criminal conspiracy involved crossing state lines, doesn't that make it a federal offense?

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

Only if you can prove it.

No evidence, no charges.

[redbird]

Another possibility: the gun charges and making threats against Obama are enough to hold them without bail; they can investigate and add more charges later.