THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 16, 1995 TAG: 9505160299
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ROANOKE LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
A Pulaski machinist arrested soon after organizing a militia in southwest Virginia was sentenced to five years in prison Monday for conspiring to circumvent federal gun laws and possessing illegal weapons.
James ``Moon'' Mullins advocated guerrilla warfare and terrorism to combat gun control, but he was prosecuted only on the weapons charges because he never acted on the insurrectionary ideas, federal agents said.
The Blue Ridge Hunt Club met three times last summer before federal agents arrested five of the approximately 15 members on firearms charges. One of the group's goals, agents said, was to circumvent gun laws by disguising the identities of buyers.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser postponed the trial of three other Blue Ridge Hunt Club members because the Oklahoma City bombing provoked strong feelings about militias and made a fair trial unlikely.
Mullins, who has been in jail since his arrest nine months ago, pleaded guilty in February to seven of 16 charges against him, including possession of illegal silencers and a machine gun. In return, Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Walthuis said, the government sought a sentence of five years in prison rather than the maximum 60 years.
Defense attorney Jack Gregory said it was fortunate that Mullins decided against risking a jury trial and struck a deal with the government before the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma. Bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh was a former member of a Michigan militia.
Gregory said the only similarity between the Blue Ridge Hunt Club and militias like the one in Michigan is that they oppose federal weapons restrictions. But he added, ``Oklahoma City could have tainted the court.''
Mullins, 41, acknowledged that he wrote about launching attacks on telephone relay centers, bridges and fuel storage tanks, and planning to raid an armory to steal weapons. But he said in interviews after his guilty plea that those actions would have come only if the government attacked U.S. citizens first.
Mullins said the militia's mission was to effect political change. He said the target practice and firing of illegal weapons were done to make their meetings more interesting.
Gregory said the idea of using terrorism came from the club's vice president, Nelson Thompson, the government informant who helped recruit members. But Thompson said it was Mullins' extreme views that led him to alert the government.
Mullins said nothing about the case during the brief hearing in U.S. District Court. ILLUSTRATION: James Mullins
KEYWORDS: MILITIA SENTENCING by CNB