FBI catch terrorist planning attack, federal judge releases him

Ordained Christian Minister of the Christian National (Congregational) Church Robert Rankin Doggart was arrested in April after planning to carry out a massacre in upstate New York.

Those guys [have] to be killed. Their buildings need to be burnt down. If we can get in there and do that not losing a man, even the better.

The guys in question: Muslims. Doggart, who ran for office in Tennessee last year, planned to burn down a Mosque and a Muslim school, and shoot anyone who tried to stop him:

When we meet in this state, the people we seek will know who we are. We will be cruel to them. And we will burn down their buildings [and] if anyone attempts to, uh, harm us in any way, our standoff gunner will take them down from 350 yards away.

He was caught by the FBI, who arranged a meetup with a “cooperating source” (CS):

« The defendant traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, on March 17, 2015, and met with the CS. At that time, the defendant showed to the CS a map of Islamberg. On that map the defendant identified the buildings he intended to destroy. Also, the defendant carried firearms with him to Nashville, including an M-4 type weapon as well as a shotgun. »

So, he had a map, an M4 carbine assault rifle, a shotgun, ammo, a plan of action, motives… He also attempted to recruit others. Open and shut case, right?

Well, authorities decided to turn a blind eye to the planned terrorism and let him enter a guilty plea for mere interstate communication of threats — i.e. posting recruitment messages on Facebook. The maximum sentence for that is 5 years. But even that was considered too harsh a sentence for a white Christian would-be terrorist:

« Federal Judge Curtis Collier has directed attorneys who worked out a plea deal for a Signal Mountain man who admitted plotting to kill Muslims in a town in Upstate New York to show that it was “a true threat.”

And, Federal Magistrate Susan K. Lee has reversed her earlier ruling and allowed 63-year-old Robert Rankin Doggart to go free pending disposition of the case. »

He’s not even under house arrest.

White privilege. Is there anything it can’t do?