Feds to appeal release of Mich. militia members

DETROIT -- Federal prosecutors said Wednesday they will appeal a judge's decision to release until trial nine jailed members of a Michigan militia accused of plotting to overthrow the government.

Prosecutors filed a one-page notice and said they would follow it with a detailed legal brief that U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts wants before she decides whether to keep the nine locked up during an appeal. The deadline was 5 p.m. EDT.

The members of the southern Michigan militia, called Hutaree, are charged with conspiracy to commit sedition, or rebellion, against the government and the attempted use of weapons of mass destruction.

Authorities have said the group planned to kill a police officer and then bomb a subsequent funeral.

Prosecutors claim the suspects are too dangerous to be released from jail. But Roberts on Monday ruled they could go home until trial under strict conditions, including electronic monitoring. She suspended her ruling to give the government time to consider appealing her decision.

Roberts now must decide whether the suspects should be released or whether they should continue to be detained pending the outcome of the appeal.

Defense attorney Michael Rataj said his client, 44-year-old Tina Stone of Clayton, Mich., is "anxious for a good shower and normal food" after nearly six weeks in jail.

An undercover agent infiltrated the group and secretly recorded some members talking about killing police and fearing a "New World Order." Defense attorneys have said it was nothing more than hateful talk.

Roberts opined that it was "offensive and hate-filled speech" but it did not signal a conspiracy to levy war against the government.

It's rare for a federal appeals court to even be asked to review a ruling on pretrial detention. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati could decline to hear the government's appeal.

"Judge Roberts did her homework and doesn't want to be reversed. That's why her ruling is 36 pages long," said Lloyd Meyer of Chicago, a former terrorism prosecutor. "Is this a ruling that no reasonable judge could issue? Did the judge abuse her discretion? Those are the questions the appellate court will need to answer."