Defense attorneys for two of the men charged in an alleged bomb plot in western Kansas argued their clients were manipulated by the FBI into remaining part of the conspiracy.

Cross examination of Dan Day, the paid FBI informant in the case, wrapped up Wednesday, with the defense asking him why he didn’t put a stop to the plot earlier when he had the chance.

Day recorded hundreds of hours of meetings and phone calls with Curtis Allen, Patrick Stein and Gavin Wright. Prosecutors say the three men planned to attack Somali Muslim immigrants in Garden City in November 2016, going so far as to pick a target and gather materials for a bomb.

All three have pleaded not guilty.

Day testified earlier in the trial in Wichita’s federal courthouse that he maintained a “persona” as a member of the Kansas Security Force — a militia the men belonged to — but wasn’t working to further the plan.

James Pratt, Stein’s attorney, argued Day went out of bounds. He pointed to a recorded phone call in early September when Stein expresses frustration with the planning process and suggests backing out of the plan; Day urges him to stay.

“You were doing everything you could,” Pratt said Wednesday, “to make sure the defendants stayed together and worked toward your goal.”

Day responded he was trying to prevent any of the members from leaving and potentially doing “their own thing,” without the FBI knowing about it.

“What if they wanted to go off and do nothing?” Pratt asked. “You weren’t working toward that end, were you? You were working toward them doing something.”

Wright’s attorney, Kari Schmidt, distanced her client from the rest of the group entirely, pointing out that he was absent from several key events included in Day’s testimony, including recruiting meetings.

Though Wright’s business, G&G Home Center in Liberal, was frequently used as a meeting place, Schmidt says Wright was often busy answering the phone, or wasn’t participating in conversations regarding the alleged plot.

“All we know from those recordings is that you were there,” she told Day.

Schmidt played a phone call between Wright and Day from Oct. 11, the day Allen was arrested on domestic abuse charges. During the call, Wright says he is quitting the plan.

“I don’t need to be involved in this,” he says. “I want to be part of changing this country constitutionally, but I don’t want to be involved in that.”

Still, countered federal prosecutor Risa Berkower, Wright did sign on to the plan.

“When you discussed blowing up the Mary Street building,” she asked Day, “did Gavin Wright say ‘No, no, no,’ or, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah’?”

Day said that unlike other militia members who were aware of the plan, Wright was working to execute it.

Day said it was Allen’s unexpected arrest that eventually put an end to the planning; his ex-girlfriend told law enforcement she thought the men were making explosives, and soon after Wright and Stein were also arrested.

“If that hadn’t happened, they would have built a bomb and blown up the building,” he said.



Nadya Faulx is a reporter for KMUW and the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KMUW, Kansas Public Radio, KCUR and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. Follow her on Twitter @NadyaFaulx. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to the original post.



To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org. </s> An FBI informant’s account of the investigation into an alleged bomb plot in western Kansas was called into question Tuesday.

Defense attorneys in the ongoing trial in Wichita’s federal courthouse had the chance to cross-examine Dan Day after two days of direct testimony. Day worked as an informant for the FBI for several months in 2016 as agents investigated Patrick Stein, Gavin Wright and Curtis Allen. The three men are accused of planning an attack on an apartment complex and mosque in Garden City.

As an informant, Day posed as a member of the Kansas Security Force militia. He recorded hundreds of hours of phone calls and meetings with the defendants at G&G Home Center, the business owned by Wright.

Day told prosecutors that by mid-September, a few weeks before their arrests, the men had all the materials they needed to make an explosive. The state is arguing the men were preparing to take action to carry out the attack.

But Allen’s attorney insists there was never a bomb.

“You said they had a bomb ready, put together and ready to set off?” Melody Brannon asked Day.

“They said they had everything they needed to do it,” Day responded.

“That’s different than having a bomb ready,” Brannon said.

Questioned further, Day said he never saw any equipment, except for the mortar and pestle he had provided.

Day was also unclear on what kind of bomb the men had planned to make and didn’t know what ingredients it would need. A sergeant with the Liberal Police Department testified a hotplate magnetic stirrer was found in Wright’s pickup as police executed a search warrant, but he couldn’t say with certainty whom the item belonged to, or who had put it in the truck.

Brannon acknowledged her client was “seriously worried” about the federal government, Islamic law and the upcoming election 2016 presidential election.

“In the end, though, Mr. Day, there was never any bomb at G&G, was there?” she said.

Attorneys for the three defendants have argued that Day is less a hero and more of a paid bounty hunter working for the FBI.

Day first came into contact with the FBI in July 2015, several months before he met the defendants. Shortly after, he joined a militia known as the Three Percenters. It was his choice to join, he said, but the FBI “asked me to follow them, and I agreed.”

James Pratt, an attorney for Stein, said Day had been providing the FBI information “for a while before they, for lack of a better word, ‘signed you up’ as an informant.”

Pratt provided as evidence a contract signed in October 2015, when Day formally became a paid informant while also serving as the militia group’s vetting officer. Day said he agreed to become an informant because he was concerned with extremists in the organization.

The defense will continue to cross-examine Day on Wednesday.

Nadya Faulx is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. Follow her on Twitter @NadyaFaulx. </s> A Canadian appeals court on Tuesday ordered a new trial for two men accused of plotting to derail a passenger train travelling between Toronto and New York, citing errors in the jury selection.

Tunisian national Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, a Canadian resident of Palestinian descent, were convicted in 2015 of an Al-Qaeda-backed conspiracy to commit murders and sentenced to life in prison.

But the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the trial judge mishandled the jury selection process, resulting in an "improperly constituted jury," which means their verdict cannot stand.

The trial heard that the pair were "motivated by Islamic extremism and had planned terrorist attacks on non-Muslim targets or victims."

The attack allegedly would have marked the start of a campaign of terror to try to convince Canada and its allies to leave Muslim lands.

Prosecutors said the pair had planned to cut a large hole in a railway bridge to derail a Via Rail train, with the aim of killing and injuring passengers and crew.

Esseghaier, who was doing doctoral research in Canada, acted on instructions from overseas extremists, they alleged.

Key evidence came in the form of recordings by an undercover FBI agent who befriended the pair. </s> TORONTO — Ontario’s highest court has ordered a new trial for two men found guilty of terrorism charges in connection with a plot to derail a passenger train.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario says the jury that convicted Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier was improperly selected, which means its verdict cannot stand.

Jaser and Esseghaier were found guilty in 2015 on a total of eight terror-related charges between them. They were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole until 2023.

Lawyers for Jaser argued the trial judge mistakenly rejected their client’s request regarding the method of jury selection.

The lawyer appointed to assist Esseghaier — who continues to be self-represented — agreed in written arguments that a new trial must be ordered on that ground.

The law regarding jury selection was in flux during the trial but the appeal court says the approach used by the judge has since been deemed wrong.

Several other cases have been overturned due to similar errors in recent years.

Jaser had also raised other grounds for appeal but the jury issue was heard first.

Both men also previously indicated they wished to challenge their sentences, but the call for a new trial makes that unnecessary.
• Via Rail plotters weren’t sick or addicted — they were evil, FBI undercover agent says
• Undercover FBI agent who helped Canada nab railway terror plotters has one big regret
• ‘Delusional’ Via Rail plotter now on anti-psychotics, plans appeal </s> TORONTO -- Two men found guilty of terrorism charges in connection with a plot to derail a passenger train between Canada and the U.S. were granted a new trial Tuesday after Ontario's highest court found the jury that convicted them was improperly selected.

Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier were found guilty in 2015 on a total of eight terror-related charges between them. They were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole until 2023.

The two challenged their convictions, and lawyers for Jaser argued the trial judge mistakenly rejected their client's request regarding the method of jury selection.

The lawyer appointed to assist Esseghaier -- who continues to be self-represented -- agreed in written arguments that a new trial had to be ordered on that ground.

The law regarding jury selection was in flux during the trial but the appeal court said in its ruling that the approach used by the judge has since been deemed wrong. Several other cases have been overturned due to similar errors in recent years.

Though Esseghaier, who largely chose not to participate in the trial proceedings, had not expressed a preference as to jury selection, he should receive a new trial, the appeal court said Tuesday.

"Here, one jury was selected for both appellants. In the circumstances of this case, as the jury was not properly constituted for Jaser, it cannot be considered to have been properly constituted for Esseghaier," the court said in a unanimous decision.

Jaser had also raised other grounds for appeal but the jury issue was heard first. Both men also previously indicated they wished to challenge their sentences, but the call for a new trial makes that unnecessary.

The pair was arrested in April 2013 after a months-long investigation that involved an undercover FBI agent who gained their trust and secretly recorded hours of their conversations.

The two were recorded speaking about terror plots they would conduct in retaliation for Canada's military actions in Muslim countries, including the derailment of a Via Rail train travelling between New York and Toronto.

Those recordings made up the bulk of the evidence in the case. </s> New trial ordered in alleged plot to derail Canada-US train

A Canadian appeals court on Tuesday ordered a new trial for two men accused of plotting to derail a passenger train travelling between Toronto and New York, citing errors in the jury selection.



Tunisian national Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, a Canadian resident of Palestinian descent, were convicted in 2015 of a conspiracy to commit murders and sentenced to life in prison.

But the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the trial judge mishandled the jury selection process, resulting in an "improperly constituted jury," which means their verdict cannot stand.

Prosecutors said the pair had planned to cut a large hole in a railway bridge to derail a Via Rail train, with the aim of killing and injuring passengers and crew.

Esseghaier, who was doing doctoral research in Canada, acted on instructions from extremists, they alleged.

Key evidence came in the form of recordings by an undercover FBI agent who befriended the pair. </s> Authorities in Bloomington said no one was injured in the blast at the city’s Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center.

An improvised explosive device caused the explosion, the FBI office in Minneapolis tweeted Saturday afternoon.

Another tweet said the FBI is working on determining who set off the explosive and why.

The FBI is the lead investigative agency. Police are asking anyone with information to contact the FBI.

Deputy Chief Mike Hartley of the Bloomington Police Department said officers received a report about the explosion around 5 a.m. (6 a.m. ET) Saturday. Responding officers found damage to the building and smoke in the area, the police department said in a tweet.

At a news conference Saturday, a witness said the explosion happened around the time of morning prayers. The witness described running outside after the blast and seeing a car driving away.

A spokesman for the Muslim American Society of Minnesota told CNN affiliate WCCO the group believes someone may have thrown something into the window of the mosque imam’s office.

The society’s executive director, Asad Zaman, said the imam’s window was broken and cited a witness who saw someone standing by the window before the explosion.

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is offering a $10,000 reward in the case.

“If a bias motive is proven, this attack would represent another in a long list of hate incidents targeting Islamic institutions nationwide in recent months,” said Amir Malik, CAIR’s civil rights director in Minnesota.

Law enforcement authorities have not said whether they are investigating the mosque explosion as a hate crime.

The US Department of Homeland Security said it “fully supports the rights of all to freely and safely worship the faith of their choosing and we vigorously condemn such attacks on any religious institution. We are thankful that there were no injuries, but that does not diminish the serious nature of this act.”
Lawyers representing two of the three defendants in a Kansas case alleging a Christian extremist plot to bomb a mosque tell jurors the FBI manipulated and encouraged the actions of the accused.