Viper Militia Trial Articles THE MINISTER AND THE VIPER by Fran Van Cleave I went down to the Maricopa County Jail this morning and got in to see Dean Pleasant. This is no mean feat. It was my third attempt to see this member of the infamous "Viper Militia," who is being held without bail in Administrative Segregation inside Maximum Security. Ostensibly, this is for his own protection. It also limits his visiting hours to two half-hour periods each Sunday and Wednesday -- really only twenty minutes each, because they count the time spent getting him as part of your half-hour. Only family members, lawyers, and clergy can visit him. As a minister in the Universal Life Church, a once-popular Southern California church that willingly ordained anyone with a belief in God and $10, I duly produced a letter from myself stating the purpose of my visit to be religious services, and was ushered up to the fourth floor, visiting booth D2. Not, of course, before surrendering my sunglasses, my watch, and my wedding and engagement rings. No doubt some clever Viper, schooled in survival techniques, could have used my engagement ring to cut through the glass window and, using my watch to determine direction from the sun, divined his way to the nearest waterhole and thence to the Mexican border. Alas, the watch is digital -- the scheme never would've worked! Aside from exchanging a few words with Dean at the bail hearing on Tuesday the 9th of July, this was the first time I'd had a chance to talk with him since before the arrests. We sat on either side of a screened glass window, and the guard handcuffed him to the bench. A joke about captive audiences flitted through my head and vanished. I picked up the phone and said, "Hey, Dean!" The guard fumbled with the handcuffs, making Dean drop the phone. He picked it up again and Page 1 Viper Militia Trial Articles said, "Hi, Fran!" All smiles, he looked amazingly chipper for someone who'd been in jail for over two weeks, not to mention being spit upon by other inmates. I do seem to have this salutary effect on people, particularly men who haven't seen a woman in a while. Chalk up the other half of it to the resilience of youth (he's 27). "I'm doing OK," he said. "Just you wait and see, we'll be a movie of the week. On one of those boring time slots after the cop shows...." I've known Dean for almost 3 years, since the winter before the '94 campaign, when our Libertarian Party had monthly meetings at the Spaghetti Company downtown on Central. Yes, he's quite a gun enthusiast, and no, I can't imagine him ever initiating forceagainst another human being. He's a sweet, even-tempered optimist who told me and another friend in April that one of the reasons that he continued to hang out with this other group of people was because two of its members were on the edge, and he felt he was good at calming them down. Thinking back, I believe he was afraid to leave. Golly, could those two have been the FBI informants? The ones who admitted in court Monday the 8th that they tried to get the Vipers to rob banks, sell drugs, and distribute racist literature? The Vipers refused to do those things. Instead, they'd made a video of themselves blowing up ... dirt. Blow up dirt, go to jail? Well, but they intended an identical fate for government agents, the Feds assert. If ATF really believed that, why did they not warn anyone in the supposedly targeted buildings? The answer is, they didn't believe it, nor suspect it, nor charge the defendants with such plans. The conspiracy charges boil down to one Orwellian word: Thoughtcrime. The mainstream media, those staunch guardians of free thought, fell all over themselves to Page 2 Viper Militia Trial Articles validate Janet Napolitano's characterization of the Viper's as a bunch of Tim McVeighs in utero. When the black inmates heard this on the news last week, "they wanted my ass," says Dean. After all, these Vipers must be racists and baby-killers. Dean's name had been bandied all over the place as the most prominent Libertarian, so it was only reasonable to storm over to his cell and try to beat the crap out of him. Right? Fortunately (I use the word advisedly) his new room-mate, a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, locked them in and called for help from the guards. The guards decided to place Dean in Administrative Segregation. The incensed inmates, deprived of their rightful prey, spit on Dean as they hustled him off. Of course, we can't ignore the possibility that this was a set-up to put Dean in fear of his life, thereby making him more amenable toplea-bargaining. "Rick (Walker) has been talking about killing himself," said Dean. "He's lost everything, his business, the house. His wife's moving back to Detroit with the kids, and her old boyfriends live there, so he thinks it's the only way he can die with honor...." Die with honor? Jesus H. Christ, is he trying to head his lawyer off at the pass? "Any fool can die for a cause," I said forcefully, disgusted by this talk of "honorable" suicide. "It takes a strong person to live for one." "I know," said Dean, looking me straight in the eye. "Good," I said. I felt briefly like a minister, despite my present agnosticism. He knows, of course, but how much? Not as much as my 42-year-old self, scarred from the world's stupidest psychedelic drug bust six years ago. But I didn't mention this. Dean disapproved of drugs. In fact, when I first met him, he was so Republican-looking I wondered how we'd ever get along. Now I'm reminded of the unlikely Page 3 Viper Militia Trial Articles friendship between Timothy Leary and G. Gordon Liddy. "I got your cards yesterday," said Dean over the phone. "I needed that ... they were great, especially the ones from the kids." Dean and I and Chris Wilcoxson had taken care of Ernie Hancock's four kids after he'd burned himself in a carburetor fire in November '94, giving Donna time to visit Ernie in the Maricopa County Burn Unit. Dean bought the kids ice cream and took them to the movies. The kids wrote, "We love you, Dean. We know who the bad guys are." Dean smiled when he talked about our cards, but after a moment he had tears in his eyes. "Sorry, I just get...." "It's OK," I said. "How 'bout if I read you something from my ULC book?" He nodded, and I began, "'If we believe in our own liberty sufficiently to let everyone else enjoy theirs, we can achieve peace beyond all our expectations and prosperity must follow, just as the day follows the sun. Armed with the inventiveness of liberty, the human race always transcends itself. The ULC Church champions above all else Liberty of Thought, the mother of all invention...." "Um, I have to go," he said, and I looked up to see the guard uncuffing him from the bench. I hadn't realized it was 11:00 already -- my watch was downstairs in that flimsy locker with my rings and my sunglasses. I couldn't help but wonder how free one's thought can be when you're in chains. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Profile of a Viper by Fran Van Cleave Page 4 Viper Militia Trial Articles In November of '93, I had recently joined the Libertarian Party, not knowing any of the members very well, so at the Spaghetti Company monthly meeting I sat down next to someone I'd never seen before, a good-looking young man with a short Republican haircut. By way of context, I should add that as a former Democratic campaign worker and fan of Tim Leary, I'd been a little bemused by the motley Libertarian mix of long-hairs and former conservatives, and had an ingrained distrust of just how "former" the latter could be. But I thought, what the hell, might as well try to be friendly. We began talking in that desultory way strangers have while waiting for the meeting to start and the waiter to appear. He said he'd been interested in politics, Republican politics, for a long time. Surprising in one so young; he was only 24. He also said he'd wanted at one time to become a policeman, but after taking a class on Constitutional law, he began to think there were too many unConstitutional laws that he wouldn't want to enforce. Like what? I asked. Drug laws, he replied. He was very opposed to people using illegal drugs, but he'd come to the realization that it wasn't up to government to tell people what they could put in their own bodies. Besides, the Drug War's making the problem worse, not better. It would not be inaccurate to say that Democratic cynicism had just taken a direct hit. I thought, my God, if someone this conservative-looking can sit down with me and talk rationally about the insanity of our vaunted Drug War, then there's hope.. That young man was Dean Pleasant, one of 12 members of the Viper militia indicted for conspiracy to furnish instruction in the making of explosive devices in the furtherance of civil disorder, furnishing instruction of same, conspiracy to manufacture unlicensed explosive devices, and possession of automatic weapons without tax stamps. Page 5 Viper Militia Trial Articles I won't go into long-winded detail about how I don't believe Dean would ever deliberately harm anyone who hadn't attacked him or another person first. If that were so, he wouldn't be a true Libertarian, and I wouldn't be writing this. I'd rather talk about my friend Dean, the person I've known. When Ernie Hancock, our county chair, was severely burned in a fire the day after the '94 elections, Dean, Chris Wilcoxson and I took turns taking care of his four kids so that his wife could visit him at the Maricopa County Burn Unit. Dean spent more time than any of us with those kids. He bought them ice cream, took them to the movies, and gave them Christmas presents. We all gave them presents, but he gave more than we did, always. Dean helped other people, too. When Tamara Clark came down from Las Vegas to manage John Buttrick's campaign for governor, she lived at party headquarters, and got the scare of her life when five men tried breaking in at 2:00 a.m. one night. Dean guarded her at night for weeks after that, catching naps on the sofa, running off to school during the day. Several men tried breaking in again while he was there; Dean caught one attempting to disconnect the phone lines, and then the police rolled up and let the guy go. Did he always carry a gun? I can't remember ever seeing him without one. Since he started working the night shift at Kathy's Donut Farm, the Circle K across the street has been robbed eight times. Last July, a man wearing an overcoat came in wanting donuts at three AM. He didn't care what kind, but he did want coffee. When Dean turned around and reached for the coffee pot, his jacket cleared the gun on his hip. The man was out the door so fast, all Dean saw was the swinging door. We'll never know whether the man was hiding a gun under that overcoat or simply suffering from strangely low body temperature, but I think it's worth pointing out that Page 6 Viper Militia Trial Articles bloodshed can be averted by the display of a weapon. I knew he spent a lot of time on shooting and related pastimes. Not only did he talk about it, but he and his friends had their own newsletter called SHF News which ran pictures of the guys shooting Dean's Tommy gun. SHF News has good- quality layout, fonts, and printing, but suffers from a regrettably puerile content. On the front cover of the Dec. '95 issue, it says "We have no other life but our guns," and "Merry Christmas to all four of our readers." The girl on the front cover is drinking a beer, and the caption underneath says, "The way we like our women -- drunk!" When he gave me a copy, he apologized for the cover, and said, "I know -- it's pretty rude. You probably won't want to read it, but you know how young guys are...." I glanced through it and said, "Dean, you need a woman. All of you guys need girlfriends." He looked embarrassed. "I know." He also told me and another friend that one of the reasons he stayed with this group was because two of the guys were pretty crazy, and he felt that he had a good effect on calming them down. When I interviewed Dean last spring, gathering personalities and ideas for a planned science-fiction novel, I asked him where he thought this country was headed. He said it may end up like Belfast. I said, "God, that would be insane. Nobody would talk about freedom under those conditions. All they'd be able to think about would be their friend or their relative who'd just gotten hurt or killed." Dean said, "You're right, it'd be absolutely crazy." After the arrests, I telephoned Dean's parents. They were stunned, bewildered, and feeling helpless to do anything for their son. Mrs. Pleasant explained that the guards at the jail wouldn't even let her see him the first night he was arrested. They refused to give him a pencil Page 7 Viper Militia Trial Articles to fill out the required visitor's card; a pencil is a "dangerous implement." I attended the bail hearings all day Tuesday, and was able to speak with him for perhaps a minute, while officers were handcuffing the other defendants to take them all away. He looked better than I expected, but his stunned humiliation was obvious to anyone who knew him. He said, "You probably won't be able to see me [in maximum security]. That's the worst thing about this, that I can't see my friends." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Viper Sentenced, Makes Statement by Kent Van Cleave -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PHOENIX -- Dean Carl Pleasant, the last of the Viper Team (called "Viper Militia" by the media) to be sentenced after pleading guilty in the case brought against them by the federal government, was sentenced to 71 months in federal prison, three years subsequent supervised release, $300 in special assessments, and a $1,500 fine. Prosecutors, who had intended to turn the sentencing into a one-sided show trial, entering into public record the so-called "target-tape" made by Pleasant and two other defendants in 1984 (long before the Viper Team existed), were frustrated when Judge Earl Carroll sustained a defense objection, ruling that the video would not be shown in court. Carroll cited his concern that the video, if made public at this stage, could prejudice the trial of the two remaining Vipers, Chuck Knight and Christopher Floyd, which began this week and is delayed due to a heart attack suffered by Floyd's attorney soon after opening statements were made to the jury. Family and friends of Pleasant were astonished at this move by Carroll, Page 8 Viper Militia Trial Articles having expected he would acceed to all the prosecution's desires. The government was not to be denied, however. Carroll allowed without objection a prosecution description of the video, along with their claim that any reasonable person who had viewed it could only conclude that Pleasant deserved a sentence at the high end of federal sentencing guidelines. Indeed, Carroll ultimately handed down the maximum jail time set forth in the guidelines, tempered only by the fact that he imposed a lesser sentence on two of the three charges Pleasant faced -- 60 months on counts 1 and 3 of the indictment. The 71-month sentence on count 5, however, represents the actual time Pleasant is to serve, as the time for all three counts will run concurrently. Pleasant's sentence will be reduced by the nine months he has already spent in custody, plus up to a 15 percent reduction for good behavior. Pleasant intends to appeal the sentence. There are questions concerning the constitutionality of all counts raised against the defendants in this case, and with respect to Pleasant, about the rationale behind the sentence he received. Count 5, for which he received the stiff 71-month maximum, is due to his failure to pay a tax of several hundred dollars on a machine gun in his possession. The typical sentence meted out to such "offenders" is two to three years; other Vipers facing the same charge received lighter sentences. One theory is that the government wanted to make an example of Pleasant, using the "target-tape" to portray him as a domestic terrorist bent on spreading violence. But this aim is more directly related to count 1, involving conspiracy to teach others about the manufacture and use of "destructive devices." Since teaching of any kind has long been protected by the First Amendment, it is not implausible that the nominally lighter sentence Pleasant received on this count was downplayed, and the weapons charge used as a pretext for meting out the punishment the government wanted to Page 9 Viper Militia Trial Articles visit upon him for his teaching role in the Vipers. Most Americans will presume that the 'guilty' pleas entered by 10 of the Vipers is a forthright admission that they did wrong. In most cases, nothing could be further from the truth. As a career law enforcement officer (and expert on paramilitary and terrorist groups) put it, with today's interrogation techniques, police can get anyone to confess to, say, child molestation within three hours. Arizonans needn't strain their memories much to recall that three Tucson men "confessed" to the brutal slayings of Buddhist monks in their temple, only to be wholly exonerated when the real culprits were apprehended. Sadly, in the case of at least one Viper, the government's persuasion was so effective as to undermine that defendant's belief in the Constitutional rights the group had formed to defend. Immediately following yesterday's sentencing, Dean Pleasant released the following statement explaining how he came to plead 'guilty', what the true nature of the "target-tape" was, and other aspects of the way this case has been handled. Its eloquence speaks volumes. --Kent Van Cleave April 3, 1997 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRESS RELEASE April 2, 1997 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For fear of judicial reprisal, I have, as well as my co-defendants, remained silent during our ordeal. Now is the time to correct the lies, misinterpretations, and disinformation. Page 10 Viper Militia Trial Articles Falsehood #1. Never did the Viper Team, nor any of its members, have any plans to blow up, attack, set fire to, or otherwise damage any building, occupied or otherwise. This was acknowledged by the case supervisor himself during our bond hearing five days after our arrests. The allegation made by Janet Napolitano on July 4th was an absolute propagandish lie and is actionable. Falsehood #2. The so-called "target-tape," made by me, was not an effort to pre- investigate any target of destruction by myself or the team, as the prosecution has alleged, but an anti-terrorism study, designed to be an educational tool in tactical analysis. The prosecution knew this from the very day they first learned of the tape on May 19, 1996 as their transcript of the surveillance audiotape attests to. On page 10 of the transcript I say "it was an anti-terrorism study. That's all it was." The tape recorded a conversation that was meant to be among trusted compatriouts who would trust each other with their lives. I had no idea I was being recorded. If my purpose in making the tape was as the prosecution alleges, I would have declared it there. I did not. The prosecution knew also that the tape was made long before Viper Team existed and before most of its members had ever met. To allege that the making of the tape was an act of the conspiracy we are charged with is to lie. Falsehood #3. The oath taken upon inclusion into Viper Team did not call for the murder of law enforcement officers who may infiltrate or attempt to seize our weapons, as evidenced by the fact that no one did so during the raids. The actual text of the oath reads: "I swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and especially the original and genuine Bill of Rights. I will support and defend Page 11 Viper Militia Trial Articles my fellow militiaman. If need be I will enter into mortal combat against the enemies of the U.S. Constitution and U.S. Militia to carry out this oath. So help me God." Of the 61 video and audio tapes made of us during the investigation (which ran from June of 1995 until June of 1996), the group did not pledge to kill infiltrators or seek retribution if arrested. In fact, we were relieved to have not been slaughtered outright, and looked with misplaced faith to our coming court date as the vindication of our actions and intentions as the legal practices we knew them to be. Falsehood #4. The alleged illegal weapons, firearms and explosives alike, were in fact specifically allowable to possess under Supreme Court precedent in U.S. v. Miller, 1938. We looked forward to proving this point in court, but were denied the ability to argue constitutional points of law. Additionally, U.S. v. Rock Island Armory, 1991 (6th Circuit) and U.S. v. Dalton, 1992 (10th Circuit) illustrate the fact that A.T.F. has been legislatively ordered to capitulate and abandon their regulation of newly manufactured machine guns and, as such, had no grounds to charge any of us with an illegal machine gun, as all in our possession were of recent manufacture. But the court ruled that such arguments would not be heard. The explosives were purchased legally through regular channels and with A.T.F. approval. Being of "binary nature," they were stored in a manner consistent with safety procedures by a former expert employed in the field of their storage. No hazard existed. Falsehood #5. The devices that some Viper Team members detonated in familiarization and safe-handling training, were not designated as fragmentation bombs or weapons of any kind. They shed no Page 12 Viper Militia Trial Articles shrapnel nor were placed in areas inhabited or occupied by humans. As such, they did not meet the criteria of "destructive devices" (which are taxed in private hands), but were "explosive devices" (untaxed, and therefore unregulated). The only "destructive devices" seized were 1/4 pound projectiles that were not loaded into the necessary ammunition shell-casing, making them not readily useable and thus incomplete and not a device. My thoughts: It is my wish that the public understand that Viper Team was defensive in nature. It may seem that if one has impressive weaponry and the skill to use it, that they are a threat. But the only people Viper Team ever presented a threat to (other than ourselves) are those who would attempt to maliciously, violently, and illegally victimize us with use of deadly force. All of the members of Viper Team were life-long owners of firearms who had never even been accused of misuse of that power. Nor had any member ever been convicted of, or even charged with, a felony. In fact, we were very selective of any members to ensure their moral fiber. Liars were not tolerated, felons were not welcome, and dedication to the community was required. The team rejected incitements by the infiltrators to participate in patently criminal acts such as bank robbery, theft and fraud. The lead infiltrator, who became head of security, even tried to get the group to distribute racist literature, but he was refused and nearly expelled. It had been decided the very week of our arrests that this individual was not living up to the character standards expected and was scheduled to be expelled. This is, in part, why our arrest occurred when it did. When asked why we felt it necessary to possess explosives, I answer that, in a place where rogue agencies of the government shoot up churches containing women and children, crush Page 13 Viper Militia Trial Articles them under the tracks of tanks and armored vehicles, then burn the evidence of their crimes and lies, then bulldoze it, and go unpunished for their crimes, justifying the whole affair because the victims may have owed some tax, you had better damn well be prepared for the same to happen to you. We were. We knew that, despite having law and precedent on our side, that propagandish rhetoric within these agencies preached that we were actively seeking confrontation, and that those like us must be found and railroaded, making examples of us for those who would dare retain their rights. Thus, we prudently sought secrecy and anonymity, seeking to remain peacefully unto ourselves. It should be known that on at least one occasion while under surveillance, plans for a peaceful and productive meeting with local and state law enforcement to share mutual concerns about each other and to open and maintain a dialogue, were rejected by them. The lead infiltrator, as head of security, was involved in the attempt at diplomacy. Whether he and his agency nixed the plan and instructed the law enforcement agencies to vacate, or whether the local agencies never represented themselves in good faith from the beginning, is unclear. But we were very disappointed that we were turned away from such a potentially productive event. This is on page 13 of the June 10, 1996 transcript. I have pled guilty because I do not have the funds to fight. The court has refused at every turn to allow funds for our expert witnesses, while sparing no expense on theirs. Disclosure of evidence has been (and continues to be) incomplete. Constitutional issues ruled "dead on arrival." Precedents in our favor have been deemed unallowable. I believe all of these barriers could have been surmounted had we had sufficient funds to fight the government, but we don't. Page 14 Viper Militia Trial Articles Though it is against my desires, I am limiting the damage to my life by not going to trial. It is sad to note that, as the government succeeds in preventing me from pleading my case in court, they demonstrate that no other patriot accused in the future can expect a fair trial. As that becomes widely accepted as fact, future subjects of arrest by federal forces will likely choose to resist. All this over tax and the lust for unquestioned or unqualified obedience. It wounds my soul. To the law enforcement personnel of Arizona and the nation, I extend my pity. These people you now seek were formerly your most ardent supporters. I, myself, sought a career in law enforcement once, wishing to serve the community as my father had by example, as a police officer. I saw no profession as fulfilling or as important than being a peace officer. But before I attained that goal, I recognized the trampling of rights I would be required to do as unacceptable, so I abandoned the pursuit. These people you seek out are infinitely more motivated than you, often superiorly armed, and almost always superiorly trained and skilled. You are taking on the most difficult and lethal adversary you ever will, outside of war. While they currently don't outnumber you, they will. The resulting tragedy of pursuing them is unfathomable to you, or I know you would not proceed to pursue them. The reason only four officers died at Waco is because when the officers ran out of ammo and were forced to retreat the residents let them. Such restraint and compassion should never be expected again. This is not a threat or warning, but a sorrowful prediction. For the record, I have never had any contact or knowledge of the events surrounding the Oklahoma City tragedy or the Hyder derailment, other than that known through public information in the wake of those incidents. The responsible parties are not associated, and Page 15