NATO 3 Found Not Guilty Of Terrorism, Convicted On Lesser Charges

By aaroncynic in News on Feb 7, 2014 11:10PM

Brent Betterly, Brian Church and Jared Chase have been charged in an alleged NATO summit terror plot. (Chicago Police Department booking photos.)

After eight hours of deliberation, the jury in the trial of the NATO 3 reached a mixed verdict, acquitting the defendants of the most serious charges. Brent Betterly, 25, Jared Chase, 29, and Brian Church, 22 were found not guilty of all charges involving terrorism, but guilty of the lesser charges of mob action and possessing incendiary devices with the intent to commit arson.

While the prosecution attempted to paint the three men who were arrested in a raid in Bridgeport just prior to the NATO summit in 2012 as scheming terrorists, the defense presented a case of young, loudmouth activists convinced by undercover police to commit crimes. According to the Chicago Tribune, in his closing arguments, Assistant State's Attorney John Blakey even gave the three men nicknames, calling calling Church “Mr. Cop-on-Fire,” Chase “Captain Napalm” and Betterly “Professor Molotov." Blakey said the three were trying to conceal a terrorist plot behind "behind the legacy of nonviolent protest."

Ultimately, the defense prevailed against the terrorism charges. While the three may have spouted plenty of drunken incendiary rhetoric to the undercover police officers, who spent weeks running surveillance on them, defense attorney's told the jury they were far from the likes of al-Qaeda. Michael Deutsch, Church's defense attorney, said bringing his client up on terror charges "trivializes terrorism." Chase's attorney Thomas Anthony Durkin mocked the prosecution in closing arguments, calling a slingshot Chase allegedly planned to use to shoot marbles at President Barack Obama's re-election campaign headquarters the "tools of the terrorism trade for sure."

At a press conference at the courthouse, defense attorney's for the NATO 3 called the ruling a "big loss for the state." Sentencing for the three will take place on Feb. 28 at 2 p.m. While the mob action charges come with a light sentence - up to 120 hours of community service - the more serious arson charges the three were found guilty of could carry up to a 30-year prison term.