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Obama assassination scare were three assassination scares against the people of the United States and the Obamas. The Obama assassination scares refers to the many people planning to kill the Obamas.

Hawaii, 2009

The 2009 Obama assassination plot in Hawaii was a plot to kill U.S. Marines and U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama. It was notable in that it was reported in several countries, not just the U.S.

Three headshot images of Tharin Gartrell, Nathan Johnson and Shawn Adolf.
Booking shots of Tharin Gartrell, Nathan Johnson and Shawn Adolf following their arrest for allegedly plotting to shoot President Barack Obama.

Denver, 2008

The 2008 Barack Obama assassination scare in Denver refers to an alleged plot by Shawn Robert Adolf, Tharin Robert Gartrell and Nathan Dwaine Johnson to assassinate Barack Obama, then the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nominee. The trio allegedly planned to shoot Senator Obama with a high-powered rifle during the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

The alleged motive for the attempted assassination was a white supremacist belief that an African American should not be elected President of the United States. Gartrell was arrested August 24, 2008, and found to be in possession of rifles and other weaponry; Adolf and Johnson were arrested shortly thereafter. In a televised interview after his arrest, Johnson identified Adolf as the man who allegedly hatched the assassination plot and planned to be the shooter.

Although suspected white supremacist associations led federal authorities to investigate possible ties to a larger group, authorities later downplayed the three men as drug addicts who had "little chance" of actually carrying out the plot. The trio were charged with drug and weapons charges, but not for threatening a presidential candidate.

Investigation and arrests

Barack Obama delivering his acceptance speech.
The three men allegedly planned to shoot Barack Obama during his acceptance speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Tharin Robert Gartrell, 28; his cousin Shawn Robert Adolf, 33; and their friend Nathan Dwaine Johnson, 32, allegedly came to Denver, Colorado in August 2008 specifically to kill then-Senator Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention. The men came to Denver before Obama arrived there, and checked into a room at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center, where they mistakenly believed Obama was staying (in fact, Obama was staying at a hotel downtown). Federal authorities began an investigation into the trio after they made alleged racist threats against Obama while taking methamphetamine in the hotel room. A woman present for their conversation, who was not identified by an affidavit, told Colorado State Patrol officers they "could not believe how close he was to becoming President". She claimed they spoke about killing the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, and that Adolf allegedly said, "No nigger should ever live in the White House." A woman in the group said it would be a "suicide mission", and it would be best done by hiding a gun inside a hollowed-out television video camera, like in the 1992 Kevin Costner movie, The Bodyguard. Security had already been tight around Obama due to low-grade fears of possible assassination attempts against the first African American major party presidential candidate. Authorities did not identify the woman who informed on the trio, nor did they disclose whether she was charged with a crime.

Gartrell was reportedly going out to buy cigarettes when he was arrested at about 1:30 a.m. on August 24. Police in Aurora, Colorado, a suburb east of Denver, pulled over his rented 2008 blue Dodge Ram truck, which was swerving erratically. Police found a Ruger Model M77 Mark II 22-250 bolt-action rifle with an attached scope and bipod, and a Remington Model 721 270 bolt-action rifle with an attached hunting scope. One of the rifles was fitted with a silencer. Police also found two wigs, three fake IDs, camouflage clothing, a bulletproof vest, two walkie-talkies and 4.4 grams of what appeared to be methamphetamine in the truck. The truck contained enough drug-making equipment for the vehicle to be considered "a mobile lab". At least one of the rifles was stolen. Gartrell was high on methamphetamine when arrested. He was found to be driving on a suspended license, and was carrying a false Colorado identification card with a Centennial, Colorado address. Gartrell was using crutches at the time of his arrest.

"He don't belong in political office. Blacks don't belong in political office. He ought to be shot."

Nathan Johnson

Gartrell told an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that the weapons belonged to his cousin Adolf, and he led police to Adolf and Johnson at their hotels. Johnson was arrested at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center, at about 4:30 a.m. Adolf was arrested at the Cherry Creek Hotel in Glendale at about 5 a.m. Adolf jumped out of a sixth-story hotel window when police arrived; he fell four stories onto the second-floor roof of the hotel kitchen, then jumped again onto the ground around the hotel. He broke his ankle in the fall, but tried to run before police found him a short distance away. Adolf, who was hospitalized shortly after his arrest, was wearing body armor when police apprehended him. He told police this was because "someone wanted to shoot him". Like Gartrell, Johnson and Adolf were found to be high on methamphetamine during their arrests. During interviews with police, both men made racist statements similar to those allegedly made in their earlier hotel room discussions.

Johnson implicates Adolf

Johnson told the United States Secret Service he rented the Hyatt hotel room at Adolf's request and that he believed "without a doubt" that Adolf came to Denver to kill Obama; according to a police affidavit, "Johnson said the only reason for such killing would be because Obama is black." During an August 25 interview with KCNC-TV, a CBS owned-and-operated television station in Denver, Johnson first denied being personally involved with the plot and, when asked whether he felt the men had serious plans to go through with the assassination, he said, "Looking back at it, I don't want to say yes, but I don't want to say no." Eventually, however, he admitted the other two men had planned a killing when he said, "Yeah, they were here to do that, to assassinate him... it's about as hard for me to swallow as it is for you to understand." Johnson said the plan was for Adolf to, "shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a (rifle) sighted at 750 yards", during his acceptance speech on August 28 at the Democratic National Convention in INVESCO Field at Mile High. Johnson told the station, "He don't belong in political office. Blacks don't belong in political office. He ought to be shot." Johnson said Adolf previously made comments about killing any African American who ran for president: "He made a comment in the past. I can't honestly tell you how long ago in the past, that he didn't believe a black should be the leader of this country." According to Johnson, Adolf said he was already wanted for other crimes, so it "wouldn't matter if he killed Obama". Johnson also claimed Adolf said he would never be taken alive and wanted to "go down in a blaze of glory". Law enforcement sources also told KCNC-TV that one of the suspects "was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative." Johnson said Gartrell came to Denver to help Adolf execute the plan, and Gartrell later admitted to police that in talking about Obama, there was a reference to "shooting on a grassy knoll," which referred to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. An arrest warrant read, "Adolf said that he wanted to kill Obama and additionally stated that he would specifically use a sniper rifle and high powered scope, and find high ground to set up and shoot Obama." However, Johnson also told the reporter he came to the conclusion that there was assassination plot only after being questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation multiple times, adding, “I told them I had no idea there was a plot, a plan, a conspiracy or anything like that...When the feds came and laid out everything on the table and how it looked, I was in agreement that they could have been up here to do something like that." Johnson later rejected additional media interview requests.

Assessment of threat

FBI Special Agent Robert Sawyer initially said there was probable cause to believe the trio were conspiring to kill Obama, based on searches of their hotel rooms and cars. However, United States Attorney Troy Eid said the racist statements the suspects made following their arrests had not risen to the legal standard that would have allowed the filing of federal charges for threatening a presidential candidate, and prosecutors said they had insufficient evidence that they had the means to carry out a plot to kill Obama. Eid also said the searches of the suspects' rooms and computers turned up no evidence of a plot or conspiracy. Eid and his aides said the decision not to press charges of threatening a presidential candidate was at least in part because they did not believe a jury would convict them based on the reliability of Johnson's testimony. Jeffrey Dorschner, Eid's spokesman, said a defense attorney “would tear him apart”. Although Eid would be accused of racism and political posturing for not seeking the charge, Eid said, "The 'political' thing to have done in this case, of course, would have been to charge all three defendants with making a threat against Obama and then quietly drop those charges later — expedient, Machiavellian and self-serving, but also illegal, unethical and immoral."

The Secret Service, ATF, FBI, a U.S. Joint Terrorism Task Force and the U.S. Attorney's office investigated the plot. Inconsistencies with the men's stories led investigators to downgrade the threat the men presented to Barack Obama. During a press conference on August 26, federal authorities said Gartrell, Adolf and Johnson had possessed little, if any, chance of actually assassinating Obama. Eid described the alleged plot as "more aspirational, perhaps, than operational", and said, "We're absolutely confident that the meth heads were not a true threat to the candidate, the Democratic National Convention or the people of Colorado." Officials did not believe the men had a clear path to hit the stage from outside the convention hall, and had little chance of getting to Obama outside the convention, especially since they were incorrect about which hotel Obama would be staying at. One FBI official described the trio as "just a couple of rednecks thinking out loud what they'd like to do". FBI officials said no additional precautions were planned in response to the alleged plot because security had already been high due to the prospect of threats from extremist groups. Secret Service protection for Obama began after the Senator received a death threat in 2007, marking the first time a candidate received such protection before being nominated. Obama and his campaign officials did not comment on the arrests, just as Obama had usually declined discussing death threats against him in the past since entering the presidential race.

"We're absolutely confident that the meth heads were not a true threat to the candidate, the Democratic National Convention or the people of Colorado."

U.S. Attorney Troy Eid

Although officials downplayed the level of threat the trio presented to Obama, they said they planned further investigations into how a gang of supposedly small-time criminals collected such a massive arsenal. Authorities believed the men had at least some white supremacist involvement, although experts at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks the radical right, said no evidence existed linking any of them to a white supremacist group. Nevertheless, the possible connections prompted FBI officials, who originally considered the threat "relatively minor", to develop stronger concerns about whether the motives from the three plotters could have been connected to a larger organization. The FBI stated that with an African American candidate for President, "...you are certainly going to look at the general threat picture against any candidate and factor in the threats posed by those who preach hate and racism."

Dr. William Boone, political science professor at Clark Atlanta University, said drug influence should not have been cause for prosecutors to dismiss the threat, and that drugs have historically caused criminals to follow through with such crimes and schemes. Boone said, "The whole idea of just dismissing it as not credible is incredible. ... It’s surprising given the whole history of crime and drug use in the United States."

Histories of alleged plotters

After their arrest, law enforcement officials investigated whether Adolf, Gartrell and Johnson were linked to vandalism shootings that targeted at least two federal buildings in Denver two weeks prior to their arrest. Windows were shot at the U.S. Custom House and the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Station in Denver's downtown Federal District. Authorities were also studying whether a bullet recovered from a Hertz rental car shot on August 15 could have matched the guns seized from the men.

Adolf, a Greeley, Colorado resident, was the only one of the three alleged plotters with any previous history of violence. Adolf was arrested on May 14, 1997, for his involvement in a theft of $350,000-worth of construction equipment, materials and vehicles in Greeley. He served prison time starting in 1997 on drug-related charges, and faced two third-degree assault charges in 2001. At the time of his arrest for the alleged assassination plot, he had eight warrants out for him for various crimes around Colorado, including one for skipping out on a $1 million bond. He was on the most-wanted list of the Weld County, Colorado sheriff's department for burglary, larceny, aggravated motor vehicle theft and other prior charges. Adolf possessed a handcuff key on one hand and a swastika ring on the other when he was arrested for the alleged assassination plot. His criminal history also included forgery, drug and weapon charges. Vicki Harbert, an investigator with the Weld County Sheriff's Department, had been pursuing Adolf since 2006 and feared he would eventually kill a police officer. She said of Adolf after his 2008 arrest, "I've been a cop for 18 years and he was not your typical bad guy."

Tharin Gartrell is a professional club-music disc jockey, originally from Lincoln County, Nevada. He lived in Pioche, Nevada until the 1990s, when he moved to another rural Nevada town with his father, Carl "Flash" Gartrell, a journeyman ranch hand and heavy equipment operator. Carl Gartrell has a history of multiple drug- and alcohol-related arrests and in August 2008 had a warrant out for his arrest in Lincoln County. Tharin Gartrell, who had no known address at the time of his arrest, was run over by a truck as a child and, according to Lincoln County, Colorado Sheriff Kerry Lee, "It was absolutely amazing that he wasn't hurt badly." Gartrell experienced significant disciplinary action problems in high school and was told he would have to enroll in an alternative school, but never did. Friends said Gartrell had been on probation for drugs and had been straight for several years, but fell off the wagon and started spending time with Adolf in mid-August 2008. Like Adolf, Gartrell and Johnson had a criminal history involving burglary, forgery, drug and weapon charges. Tharin is registered with the Republican Party in Colorado.

Comparison to other cases

The failure to prosecute the trio caused some speculation about a government cover-up, particularly revolving around Troy Eid, who was appointed U.S. Attorney by President George W. Bush, and has been accused of showing political biases. Many of those speculations cited Eid's previous charges against Marc Harold Ramsey for allegedly sending a threatening letter to 2008 Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain from behind bars in the Arapahoe County Jail. Ramsey, who faced five years in federal prison and $250,000 in fines if convicted, sent McCain a package with a harmless white powdery substance and a letter that read, "Senator McCain, If you are reading this then you are already DEAD! Unless of course you can't or don't breathe." Eid said the Ramsey case was "absolutely distinguishable" from that of Gartrell, Adolf and Johnson because there was no evidence of actual planning on the part of the trio.

In North Carolina, Jerry Blanchard was indicted for threatening to kill Obama during a July 15, 2008 breakfast at a Waffle House. He allegedly called Obama the "Antichrist" at the breakfast, and made similar threats against Obama later at a hotel. Blanchard was placed in custody despite the fact that no evidence surfaced that he planned to go through with an assassination attempt. Later that same month in Florida, Raymond H. Geisel was charged with making threatening statements against Obama during a bail-bonds training class on July 31. Geisel also threatened to put a bullet in the head of then-President Bush, although Geisel later claimed he was joking. He was found to be in possession of ammunition, body armor, a combat-style hatchet, tear gas, a loaded 9 mm handgun and four loaded magazines. Geisel said he was a collector and was using the gun for his bail-bonds course. Geisel remained in custody for a month.

Eid said the Blanchard and Geisel situations were different from those of Gartrell, Adolf and Johnson because credible witnesses heard specific threats being made in both cases. Eid said Gartrell never made any threatening statements about killing Obama, and Johnson was under the influence when he accused Gartrell and Adolf and is not considered a credible witness. Blanchard's attorney, Lawrence Hewitt, said he planned to research the Colorado cases to see whether it would have any bearing on his client's case. In a letter responding to criticism about not pursuing federal charges against Gartrell, Adolf and Johnson, Eid wrote, “It would have been disgraceful for me or any other prosecutor to charge someone for a crime he didn’t commit. ... There was no probable cause to support such a charge. To the extent you challenge my motives or those of the many investigating agents and career prosecutors who all reached this conclusion in this matter, you’re mistaken.”

Media coverage

The Centre for Research on Globalisation, a Montreal-based website about social and economic issues, said the alleged assassination plot received "oddly...little coverage" in the American mainstream media and said foreign news agencies in Russia, Lebanon and Israel provided more detailed coverage. The Centre suggested a media blackout had been initiated against the story, although it did not specify whether the alleged blackout was implemented by the government or willingly by the press. Robert Arend, a writer with OpEdNews, said within two months of the alleged plot, media coverage of the trio had dropped so much, "those three creeps dropped into the bottomless pit of media obscurity".

The story was featured on page A18 of The New York Times and page A23 in The Washington Post on August 27, 2008. The alleged assassination plot was originally listed as the 15th story on the CNN website and was not posted on the MSNBC site at all. The story was also unreported by ABC World News, NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News and PBS NewsHour. Journalist Brad Friedman pointed out that U.S. Attorney Troy Eid put far greater focus, "on this relatively little amount of meth and their use of it than on the other apparent highly incriminating pieces of evidence obtained". Friedman criticized the media for not questioning Eid more sharply about the trio's large arsenal of weapons. Friedman also further criticized Eid as a "typical George W. Bush appointee - somewhat unprofessional, seemingly incompetent, stonewalling, less than brilliant."

Eid said the story was blown out of proportion by the blogosphere, and that legitimate newspapers reported on rumors and allegations in response to the blogs. Eid said he was "hounded" by countless bloggers about the story and accused of "racism and worse" for not charging the trio with threatening a presidential candidate. He said the situation was characteristic of the way the mainstream media was changing in response to the Information Age: "Blog-driven 'news' is tragically becoming the rule, not the exception. Much of it is misinformation, where some person or interest group "spins" some angle for an unknown purpose. You can tell this when calls and e-mails start flooding the office, reading from the identical script, accusing you of the moral equivalent of crimes against humanity."

Criminal charges

Shawn Adolf was held on $1 million bond for several outstanding warrants involving drug charges. He was initially charged with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, possession of body armor by a violent felon and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. On November 6, 2009, Adolf pleaded guilty to the firearm possession charge, and the other two charges were dropped, resulting in a maximum federal prison term of 10 years.

Nathan Johnson was charged with simple possession of methamphetamine and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and received a $10,000 bond at a bond hearing. Some media outlets said the low bond amount indicated authorities did not believe he was capable of assassinating Obama. On December 16, 2008, Johnson pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a weapon by a prohibited person. Johnson is now incarcerated in the Englewood Federal Correctional Institution and will be released on March 4, 2010.

Tharin Gartrell was sentenced to 15 days in prison and six months in a halfway house for a charge of possessing methamphetamine on January 29, 2009. During his sentencing, District Judge Robert E. Blackburn said, "Frankly, Mr. Gartrell, it's time you grew up." Phil Ewing, Gartrell's best friend, said at the hearing that the entire case was a misunderstanding and said, "Now people are going to see him as a racist, and that is not him." Gartrell was released from federal custody on June 12, 2009.

Barack Obama, President of the United States and target of an alleged assassination plot during his candidacy.

Tennessee, 2008

The 2008 Barack Obama assassination scare in Tennessee refers to an alleged plot by Paul Schlesselman and Daniel Cowart to assassinate Barack Obama, then 2008 Democratic Party presidential nominee. The two men, both of whom held strong white supremacist beliefs, spoke of killing Obama during a planned murder spree of 88 African Americans in Tennessee, many of whom were to be young students at an unidentified, predominantly black school.

Schlesselman and Cowart were arrested October 22 and found to be in possession of several weapons. The men told authorities of their planned assassination and killing spree, and said they intended to rob a gun store for additional weapons and perform home robberies to help fund the murders. Although the United States Secret Service said they were taking the plot seriously, authorities said they have not yet determined how capable the duo were of carrying out the alleged plot. Both plotters are currently on trial for charges of threatening to kill a presidential candidate, among other related charges.

Investigation and arrests

Paul Schlesselman, 18, of West Helena, Arkansas, and Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tennessee, allegedly plotted to assassinate Barack Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign. Both white power skinheads, Schlesselman and Cowart were introduced to each other via the Internet in September 2008 by a mutual friend who shared their white supremacist beliefs. Within a month they began planning to kill Obama by driving their vehicle toward him as fast as they could and shooting at him from the windows. The murder was planned as the final act of violence of a killing spree in which the duo planned to kill 88 African Americans by gunfire, mostly children at an unidentified, predominantly black school. They also planned to behead 14 of the 88 victims. The numbers were chosen for their special significance in the white power movement, 88 means "Heil Hitler", since H is the eighth letter in the alphabet, and 14 represents the 14-word white supremacist mantra, "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."

Schlesselman and Cowart chatted on the Internet about how to carry out the spree. Schlesselman suggested using a sawed-off shotgun because it would be easy to maneuver; he also said he planned to steal a gun from his father. Prior to their arrest, the men decorated their car with a Swastika and drew the numbers 88 and 14 on their hood using window chalk. Authorities believe the duo may have planned to move from state to state to choose their victims. They also planned to wear white tuxedos and top hats during the assassination attempt.

The alleged assassination plotters, Paul Schlesselman (left) and Daniel Cowart

On October 22, Schlesselman and Cowart shot at a glass window on the front door of the Beech Grove Church of Christ in Brownsville, Tennessee, which has a congregation of about 60 African Americans. Nobody was present at the church when the shot was fired; the bullet and shattered glass were found when church members arrived for Bible study later in the evening. Church officials said it was the first such attack against the church in its 120-year history. The two men bragged to a female friend about the shooting; the friend told her mother, who notified the Haywood County Sheriff's Department. Investigators traced the shell casings to Schlesselman and Cowart, and notified the Crockett County Sheriff's Department, who took the pair into custody after spotting the Swastikas, slurs and 88 and 14 numbers on their car.

Police seized a rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and three pistols from the men at the time of the arrest. They were detained in Bells for a few days before being moved to another facility. During interrogation, the duo told authorities of their plan to kill Obama. The United States Secret Service became involved in the investigation once the supposed assassination plot was discovered. Both men were charged with illegal possession of a sawed-off shotgun, conspiracy to rob a firearms dealer and making threats against a presidential candidate; additional charges were to be filed later pending an active investigation. Authorities have found no evidence that anyone besides the two men were involved in the plot, but authorities are still investigating the possibility.

Both Schlesselman and Cowart acknowledged that they would be killed as a result of the murders and insisted they were willing to die. Authorities said the pair planned to break into a gun shop to steal more weapons for their attack, and also bought nylon rope and ski masks at Wal-Mart to use in a robbery or home invasion to fund the spree. The duo asked a friend to drive them to a house they planned to rob, but they cancelled the robbery after getting scared by a dog and two vehicles in the driveway.

Assessment of threat

Secret Service and other authorities said they were treating the plot very seriously, but acknowledged it did not appear to have moved to an advanced stage. Authorities said there did not appear to be any formal assassination plan and said they were unable to assess how capable the duo was of carrying out the attack. Federal authorities told the Associated Press they did not believe Schlesselman and Cowart had the means to carry out their threat. Barack Obama did not have any campaign appearances planned for Tennessee. One federal law enforcement official told the AP that plans did not include Obama's schedule or a specific time and place for the assassination because, "I don't think they had that level of detail." Authorities said they made several mistakes during their planning, including drawing too much attention to themselves with their car markings. Authorities also felt the duo's failure to carry out a home robbery together indicated they would be unable to assassinate Obama. When asked whether the alleged threats were real, Daniel Cowart's lawyer, Joe H. Byrd, told reporters, "White top hats and tuxedos? You tell me."

"They sound crazy, like a really bad movie -- Quentin Tarantino gone awry. You listen to that, and you say, 'In a hundred thousand years, they never would have reached Obama.' But the reality is, they might have walked into a black high school and killed 20, 30, 40 people before anybody knew who they were."

Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center

Fred Fielder, police chief in Helena-West Helena, said the alleged plot in Tennessee particularly concerned him due to the fact that 66 percent of the city's 12,200 population are African American; he said to reporters, "Predominantly black school, take your pick." Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, described the plans and weapons arsenal as frightening, but said, "With the part about wearing top hats...it gets a bit hard to take them seriously." Nevertheless, Potok said "the reality is, they might have walked into a black high school and killed 20, 30, 40 people before anybody knew who they were." An editorial in The Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, said the plot emphasized a dark undercurrent of racism still alive in the United States, but said their chances of actually killing Obama were "almost nil. Their plot was so disorganized they appear to be candidates for 'dumb criminals,' not calculating assassins."

Despite initial concerns about the plot, the Barack Obama campaign was not notified of the alleged plot; an Obama aide told ABC News, "They were given no heads up." Concerns were already strong about possible plots against Obama due to his status as the first African American presidential nominee for a major political party. The senator had been receiving Secret Service protection since May 2007, which was the earliest for any candidate, and authorities had already foiled an alleged assassination plot at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

Histories of alleged plotters

Paul Schlesselman

Paul Schlesselman is of German descent and was a high school dropout raised by a single father in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas. He hated his small Delta region hometown because of its predominantly black population. He had never had any problems with the law prior to the alleged Obama plot. Schlesselman was regularly unsuccessful at finding work, was often short of money, and spent most of his time using his computer. He also had a strong affinity for drinking and smoking.

Schlesselman publicly claimed white people were the master race and would often say "Sieg Heil" and "Heil Hitler." He also spoke out against Barack Obama, saying things like, "Obama would make the world suffer." His sister Kayla, who is two years younger than Paul, often argued with him about his racial beliefs. A few days before his arrest, a neighbor said he heard semiautomatic gunfire coming from an open field behind Schlesselman's house. After his arrest, Schlesselman's family expressed doubt that he seriously intended to carry out the plot; his father, Mike, said, "I think it's just a lot of talk. He would never do something like this." Kayla said she spoke with his brother after the charges were made public, and that Paul "said he's sorry about everything he's done."

Daniel Cowart

Daniel Cowart is of English descent and was raised in Bells, Tennessee, where he was also often preoccupied with computers. He never had any problems with the law prior to his arrest with Schlesselman. Cowart attended Crockett County High School until 2006, but did not graduate. Cowart applied for Jackson State Community College to study computers but, although his family believed he was indeed attending the school, he never provided documentation or pursued other steps to enroll there. Cowart moved to Texas in the spring of 2007 to live with friends he met on the Internet, but he was unable to find work and returned to Bells after one month to live with his grandparents. Before his move to Texas, Cowart worked at a Bells grocery store called the Bells Market Place for one year until May 2007 before moving to Texas for a brief time. Cowart worked and got along with several minority co-workers, who later expressed shock at his eventual arrest. Mitchell Twitty, a black former co-worker, said of Cowart, "He treated me like we were best friends. I never, ever heard him make a racist remark." Twitty said Cowart tended to keep to himself and at times acted "maybe a little strange." Other co-workers described him as hard-working and friendly, but said he did not have many friends. One family friend thought he was intelligent and full of potential: "I always saw him as a doctor or lawyer, or even a senator. He even had the potential to become what Obama is, running for president."

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Cowart belonged to Supreme White Alliance, an organization which overtly describes itself as racist on its website; Cowart could be seen in a photo on the group's website celebrating the birthday of Adolf Hitler with other white power skinheads. On the group's social networking site, Cowart described himself as "easygoing and easy to get along with, as long as you are white!" Cowart was allegedly kicked out of the group sometime prior to his arrest. The club's president, Steve Edwards of Central City, Kentucky, resigned due to the negative press following Cowart's arrest. Although Edwards acknowledged Cowart's membership, he said the group had no part in the plan, and claimed that the media exaggerated Cowart's connection to the group.

Trials

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (December 2009)
A court drawing of the first hearing and not guilty pleas of Paul Schlesselman (middle) and Daniel Cowart (right).

A grand jury indicted Paul Schlesselman and Daniel Cowart on November 5 on federal charges of threatening to kill and inflict bodily harm upon a major presidential candidate, conspiracy, interstate unlawful transportation of an unregistered firearm, interstate transportation of a firearm with the intent to commit a felony, transporting a short-barreled shotgun across state lines without a license and unlawful possession of a short-barreled shotgun. Cowart was also charged with damaging religious property and use of a firearm during a crime of violence. On November 6, Schlesselman and Cowart plead not guilty before a federal magistrate in Memphis, Tennessee. The two were placed into federal custody without bail. The charges carry a maximum punishment of 50 years in prison and $540,000 in fines. A trial is expected to take place in Jackson, Tennessee, the area where the alleged crimes occurred.

At the request of federal authorities, the duo were placed on lockdown in their Obion County, Tennessee jail cell for their own protection against the other inmates. The two men can leave their cell for only one hour to watch television or use the phone; authorities said they had caused no problems during their time in the jail. Cowart's lawyer argued in a November 13 petition that the grand jury was racially stacked against him because it included only two white members, while "21 were African-American or of another race or races." Cowart's attorney argued his indictment should be dismissed because jury could not "under the most modest constitutional scrutiny...be considered fair, impartial and unprejudiced." In February 2009, a federal judge granted Schlesselman and Cowart limited access to court records on the grand jury selection and gave them permission to question procedures for selecting jurors. However, the duo's defense teams were not allowed to challenge the resulting racial makeup of the actual jury.

Also in February 2009, Schlesselman's lawyer asked the court to dismiss statements he previously gave police and evidence that he contended was wrongfully seized during searches of his home and another residence. A federal judge will determine that issue in April. Schlesselman's counsel also argued his assassination threat charges should be dropped because he said the alleged comments were made while in custody, so he could not have carried them out and they were not a "true threat." Judge J. Daniel Breen rejected that argument in March 2009.

External links

Notes and references

  1. Parks, Gregory S.; Heard, Danielle C. (2009). ""Assassinate the Nigger Ape": Obama, Implicit Imagery, and the Dire Consequences of Racist Jokes". Cornell Law School Working Papers: 2.
  2. ^ Cardona, Felisa (2008-08-29). "1 of 3 men in Obama threat case in court on drug charge". The Denver Post. Retrieved 2008-08-29.
  3. ^ Burnett, Sara (2008-09-03). "Drug suspect wanted to shoot Obama at Invesco". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
  4. ^ Wyatt, Kristen; Jordan, Lara Lakes (2008-08-26). "Fed official: Colo. men no "true" threat to Obama". Associated Press. Retrieved 2008-08-26. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  5. ^ Gardner, David (2008-08-27). "White supremacists cleared of gun plot to assassinate Barack Obama". Daily Mail. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
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