3 Militia Members Sentenced in Mich.

Associated Press/June 11, 1999
By Lisa Singhania

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) - A militia member accused of plotting to kill government officials and commit terrorist attacks in western Michigan has been sentenced to 55 years in prison Thursday.

Randy Graham, 42, had been convicted of conspiracy and of growing marijuana to bankroll the conspiracy.

Prosecutors said he and two other members of a group called the North American Militia plotted to assassinate Gov. John Engler, Sen. Carl Levin and federal judges. They also allegedly schemed to blow up the federal building in Battle Creek and the Internal Revenue Service building in Portage.

One of the alleged targets, U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen, on Thursday sentenced Graham, who claimed he was guilty of nothing more than talking.

Enslen responded: ``This was not talk in a coffee shop. Randy Graham was a domestic terrorist, one trigger pull away from killing people and blowing up buildings.''

Graham got the stiffest sentence of the three militia members arrested in 1998 after a two-year investigation.

Bradford Metcalf, 48, was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Kenneth Carter, 48, who cooperated with the government, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and got five years in prison.

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