Brandon Russell has been found guilty of conspiring to take down Maryland's power grid in a terrorist plot.

Summary

Brandon Russell, leader of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, was convicted of conspiring to attack Maryland’s power grid in a terrorist plot.

Prosecutors say Russell recruited Sara Beth Clendaniel to shoot at multiple Baltimore-area substations, aiming to cause mass blackouts and societal disruption.

Clendaniel, who took a plea deal, received 18 years in prison. Russell previously served five years for possessing explosives.

Officials estimate the planned attack would have caused $75 million in damages and widespread outages. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

  • Nougat@fedia.io
    13·
    23 hours ago

    This made me have to dig into articles again.

    From what I can tell, “During the sentencing hearing, Judge Bredar explained these charges could have elevated the sentence because the plot promoted domestic terrorism.” Then another article refers to her pleading guilty to two charges, and facing a maximum of 20 years in prison. Same charge as Russell got the full 20 for.

    Which means that her plea deal was to drop domestic terrorism charges, which surely would have carried an even worse sentence. If it’s the difference between getting out when you’re 56 or never, you choose 56.

    The interesting thing is that Russell apparently wasn’t charged with domestic terrorism. Either he’s got a crazy good lawyer, or Sarah Beth Clendaniel did something that crossed her over the line.