Alaska militia leader seeks U.S. Supreme Court review
Schaeffer Cox, the imprisoned founder of the Alaska Peacemakers Militia, is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to review his 2012 conviction that put him in federal prison for 26 years.
Michael Filopovic, Cox鈥檚 federal public defender, recently filed the petition seeking the Supreme Court review partly claiming lower appeals courts have issued conflicting rulings on legal issues raised in the Cox case.
鈥漈his case 鈥� really concerns the outer limits of liability for conspiracy in the federal courts, particularly with respect to statutes involving conspiracy to murder federal officials or federal agents,鈥� Filipovic told .
Specifically, the defense attorney claims, the petition raised the question whether Cox鈥檚 talk about murdering government officials, who weren鈥檛 specifically identified, posed an actual threat.
Filopovic argues that threats from Cox and his militia group would have been carried out only if the U.S. government implemented martial law, something he claims was highly unlikely.
The U.S. Supreme Court is deluged annually with requests to review convictions 鈥斅爌etitions for writs of certiorari 鈥斅燽ut only accepts very few for actual review. So, there鈥檚 no guarantee at this point that Cox鈥檚 conviction will be examined.
The nation鈥檚 highest court 鈥渦sually is not under any obligation to hear these cases, and it usually only does so if the case could have national significance, might harmonize conflicting decisions in the federal Circuit courts, and/or could have precedential value,鈥� according to the Court鈥檚 web site.
Four of the court鈥檚 nine jurists must agree to accept a case before review is granted. The court usually accepts no more than 150 of the approximately 7,000 cases it鈥檚 asked each year to review.
Cox has been described by federal authorities as a 鈥渄elusional, dangerous man鈥� who called himself a sovereign citizen and acted as his own attorney for a time.
He was convicted in June 2012 in U.S. District Court in Alaska last June of nine federal charges 鈥斅爏even of them illegal firearms counts 鈥斅爎elated to a conspiracy to kill a judge and law enforcement officers. He was acquitted of charges of carrying a handgun while conspiring to purchase destructive devices and possession of a handgun while discussing the murder conspiracy.
Cox, now 34, and members of his Peacemaker Militia hatched a conspiracy to kill two government officials for every one militia member who was killed 鈥� their so-called 鈥�241鈥� or two-for-one plan.
After his conviction, Cox fired his attorney.聽His replacement defender had him undergo a psychological examination which indicated he suffers from paranoia disorders.
Cox was sentenced to 26 years in prison in January 2013 for conspiracy and solicitation to murder federal officials and possession of illegal weapons. A visiting federal judge, who presided, said Cox's personality and mental status 鈥渋ndicate to me that the public needs to be protected from him.鈥�
In August 2017, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the solicitation conviction and ordered Cox to be re-sentenced,聽which hasn鈥檛 occurred while the Supreme Court review petition has been developed.
Cox, reportedly spending some of his time writing poetry and a prison blog, is serving his sentence at the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois.
