NATO 3 Sentenced; Terms Range 5-8 Years

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 25, 2014 9:05PM

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

Brent Betterly, Jared Chase and Brian Church, collectively known as the NATO 3, were sentenced to separate prison terms Friday by a Cook County judge. Church received five years, Betterly was sentenced to six years and Chase will serve eight years in prison. The trio were convicted in February of charges of mob action and possessing incendiary devices with the intent to commit arson but were acquitted of more serious charges of terrorism.

Betterly, Chase and Church faced up to 14 years in prison on the lesser charges and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez and her office pressed for stiff sentences for the trio even after a jury returned with a not guilty verdict on the terrorism charges. The NATO 3 were tried under a little used state terrorism statute and Alvarez compared their actions to the Boston Marathon bombings. Assistant State’s Attorney Jack Blakey said the three men showed a “defiant refusal to take responsibility for their conduct.”

Attorneys for the young men countered their clients were set up and were guilty of being nothing more than “goofs” encouraged by the undercover cops. Betterly and Church said they “weren’t serious about much of what was said” and that they didn’t harbor intentions to bomb police and fire stations, President Obama’s Chicago campaign headquarters and the home of Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

“My mind, through a pot and beer induced haze, was never anywhere near even wanting to commit property damage, let alone blowing things up or burning things down,” Church wrote in a letter to the court that was excerpted in the prosecution filing.

Betterly said in court prosecutors’ claims he arrived in Chicago to firebomb buildings “couldn’t be further from the truth.

“Those who know who I am, who understand the depth of my desire for truly progressive change and peace, know that I am not capable of harboring such mindlessly violent intentions,” Betterly wrote.