United States v. Allen

364 F. Supp. 3d 1234
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedJanuary 15, 2019
DocketCase No. 16-10141-EFM
StatusPublished

This text of 364 F. Supp. 3d 1234 (United States v. Allen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Allen, 364 F. Supp. 3d 1234 (D. Kan. 2019).

Opinion

ERIC F. MELGREN, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

*1238Defendants Curtis Allen, Gavin Wright, and Patrick Stein (collectively, "Defendants") were convicted by a jury of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, conspiracy to interfere with civil rights, and Wright was convicted on an additional count of obstruction of justice. Defendants filed a number of objections to the United States Probation Office's Second Amended Presentence Investigation Report ("PSR"). All three Defendants objected to the PSR's base offense level calculation, to the application of a terrorism enhancement, and to a special condition of post-release supervision. Allen and Stein objected to the application of a hate crime enhancement. Stein objected to an enhancement for being an organizer of the conspiracy. And Wright objected to an enhancement for obstruction of justice. Defendants also filed a motion to exclude the Government's submission of approximately 20 victim impact statement videos. Finally, Allen filed a motion to strike a Reply brief filed by the Government, and Stein filed a motion to join Allen's request.

For the following reasons, Defendants' objections to the base offense level calculation are overruled. Allen and Stein's objections to the hate crime enhancement are overruled. Defendants' objections to the terrorism enhancement are overruled. Stein's objection to the organizer enhancement is sustained. Wright's objection to the obstruction of justice enhancement is overruled. Defendants' objections to the special conditions of supervision are sustained. Additionally, Defendants' Objection and Motion to Exclude "Victim" Impact Statements (Doc. 457.) is denied. Finally Defendant Curtis Wayne Allen's Motion to Strike Government's Reply (Doc. 475) is denied on the merits, and Stein's Motion to Join (Doc. 476) Allen's Motion is denied as moot.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

In October 2016, following an extensive investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") arrested Defendants for their involvement in a plot to detonate multiple explosives at an apartment complex ("Mary Street Apartments") in Garden City, Kansas. The FBI's investigation began in late 2015, with the assistance of an undercover informant, Dan Day. Day had been invited to participate in a militia, and while attending the militia's meetings became concerned with the direction of the group's plans. Day took those concerns to the local FBI office. The FBI instructed Day to continue meeting with the militia and to monitor what the FBI considered a possible threat to public safety. In February 2016, Day met Stein at one of the militia's meetings. Stein expressed strong anti-Muslim views to Day, referring to Somali-Muslims as "cockroaches" and to himself as the "exterminator." Eventually, Stein recruited Day into a separate militia, the Kansas Security Force ("KSF"), where Day was introduced to Allen and Wright. Over the next several months, Defendants and other members of the KSF frequently discussed targeting members of the Somali-Muslim community with violence, including *1239the residents of the Mary Street Apartments.

In June 2016, shortly after the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Stein initiated a KSF meeting. Prior to the meeting, Stein stated that following the nightclub shooting a "switch flipped" and he had gone into "organization mode" planning an attack against Muslims. Stein also expressed frustration at the government's response to the attack. Stein stated he was "sick and tired of seeing our own f*cking people get slaughtered by our own f*cking government" and that he was "more convinced than ever" that the government and law enforcement would do nothing to curtail Muslims from entering the United States, and that the group would need to take matters into their own hands. At the meeting-which Day captured for the FBI on an audio-recording device-Stein blamed the federal government for what he perceived to be the Muslim problem. Stein stated, "[t]he f*ckin' cockroaches in this country have got to go. Period.... They are the f*cking problem in this country right now. They are the threat that we have in the country right now.... They're bringing them in by the f*ckin' plane load every god damn day. That god d*mn n*gger in the f*ckin' White House is making sure of it."

The group held two more recruitment meetings with members of KSF in July 2016. Stein called these meetings together, Allen participated at both meetings, and Wright participated only in the second meeting. The purpose of these meetings was to determine which KSF members would be willing to participate in an attack against Muslims, and to brainstorm possible targets and methods of attack. Allen told the other members of KSF that the group was planning a preemptive strike to kill Muslims, and it was likely the participants would go to prison for life for their actions. None of the other KSF members ultimately decided to join Defendants.

Defendants and Day then began meeting at Wright's business, G&G Mobile Home Sales ("G&G"), in Liberal, Kansas. Over the course of several meetings, the group continued to brainstorm possible targets and methods of attack. In addition to targeting Somali-Muslims directly, the group considered targeting landlords who rented to Muslims, churches that were sympathetic to Somali-Muslims, and local government officials that the group blamed for bringing Muslims into the area. Eventually, the group decided to detonate multiple explosives at the Mary Street Apartments; to inflict maximum casualties, the group planned to detonate the bombs during the apartment's mosque's prayer time. Defendants also decided they would manufacture their own explosives at G&G, and each member of the conspiracy was charged with acquiring materials to be used for that purpose.

While the group continued to meet and plan, Allen suggested the group draft a manifesto explaining the group's reasons for the attack. Defendants discussed the contents of the manifesto on multiple occasions. Allen stated that the manifesto should "trigger [ ] like-minded people across the nation to f*cking stand up and start doing the same thing we're doing ... [against] Muslims and [the] Government." Stein stated that the manifesto should warn the government to stop bringing Muslims into the country and to reinstate its national borders. Defendants discussed the most effective time and method of distributing the manifesto to reach the largest possible audience. Allen agreed to begin drafting the manifesto.

Now that Defendants had selected a target and were attempting to manufacture explosives, the FBI had Day introduce the group to an FBI undercover employee *1240("UCE"), who was posing as a black-market weapons dealer who could sell explosives to the group. Day introduced the idea to Defendants during a meeting at G&G on September 2, 2016. The group decided they would try to acquire several materials from the UCE, including electronic blasting caps, C-4, and other smaller explosives.

About two weeks later, Wright and Allen informed the group that they had successfully manufactured and tested a small homemade explosive. The group considered canceling the meeting with the UCE and completing their plan to bomb the Mary Street Apartments with homemade explosives. Ultimately, the group decided to pursue both options.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Payne v. Tennessee
501 U.S. 808 (Supreme Court, 1991)
Stinson v. United States
508 U.S. 36 (Supreme Court, 1993)
United States v. Gaudin
515 U.S. 506 (Supreme Court, 1995)
United States v. Awan
607 F.3d 306 (Second Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Valdez-Arieta
127 F.3d 1267 (Tenth Circuit, 1997)
United States v. Robertson
350 F.3d 1109 (Tenth Circuit, 2003)
Bland v. Sirmons
459 F.3d 999 (Tenth Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Hall
473 F.3d 1295 (Tenth Circuit, 2007)
United States v. Redcorn
528 F.3d 727 (Tenth Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Morris
562 F.3d 1131 (Tenth Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Leo E. Kingston, Jr.
971 F.2d 481 (Tenth Circuit, 1992)
United States v. Chandia
675 F.3d 329 (Fourth Circuit, 2012)
United States v. Gregory W. Frazier, Cross-Appellee
53 F.3d 1105 (Tenth Circuit, 1995)
United States v. Carl D. McBane
433 F.3d 344 (Third Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Figueroa-Labrada
720 F.3d 1258 (Tenth Circuit, 2013)
United States v. Neilson
721 F.3d 1185 (Tenth Circuit, 2013)
United States v. Cox
150 F. App'x 204 (Fourth Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Tankersley
537 F.3d 1100 (Ninth Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Turner
551 F.3d 657 (Seventh Circuit, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
364 F. Supp. 3d 1234, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-allen-ksd-2019.