NATO 3 Plead Not Guilty

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 2, 2012 8:40PM

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

The three NATO protesters held on charges related to terrorism pleaded not guilty today in court.

Brian Church, Jared Chase and Brent Vincent Betterly appeared before Judge Thaddeus Wilson, once again shackled at the leg, on 11 counts ranging from possession of an incendiary device, attempted arson, conspiracy and more. The three are accused of making Molotov cocktails to use at the protests surrounding the summit in May and assault Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters.

Defense attorneys have still only seen a small portion of evidence against the men and the discovery period of the case is expected to drag out. WGN reported Attorney Michael Deutsch said, "there's going to be a lot of fighting around the discovery in this case because we know there were other law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation and the provocateurs of this case."

Supporters for the NATO 3 filled the courtroom, some wearing yellow to show their support for the men. Later, they held a rally outside the courthouse and plan to march in the loop tonight. The next court date for Church, Chase and Betterly is scheduled for July 16. Two more men, Sebastian Senakiewicz and Mark Neiweem were scheduled to be arraigned today as well, but had their court date postponed until July 23.