Hutaree Militia Members to Seek Release, Claim They're No Threat

DETROIT (CBS/AP) Nine members of the Michigan-based militia group Hutaree, including the group's leader, David Brian Stone, will be calling an unlikely witness at a Tuesday hearing to determine if they should be released - the agent who infiltrated their group.

PICTURES: Hutaree Militia Raided by FBI

U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts ruled that attorneys for the eight men and one woman can summon a federal agent as a witness. They say the agent has information that would weaken the government's claim that the nine are too dangerous to be released from jail while the conspiracy case against them moves through court.

The undercover agent, whose name has not been made public, infiltrated Hutaree and secretly recorded the leader, David Stone, declaring "it's time to strike and take our nation back so that we may be free again from tyranny."

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said that Stone, known within the group as "Captain Hutaree," allegedly conspired with at least eight other members to kill police officers and then attack their funeral with homemade bombs in the hopes of killing more law enforcement personnel. The attacks were allegedly planned to take place in April.

Defense lawyers, however, say their clients are being punished for being outspoken.

The nine members have been charged with seditious conspiracy, possessing a firearm during a crime of violence, teaching the use of explosives, and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction - homemade bombs.

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PICTURES: Hutaree Militia Raided by FBI

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March 30, 2010 - Christian Militia Group? Militia Insider Denies it, Says Hutaree Was "Terrorist Organization"
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