The white nationalist Coast Guard officer accused of stockpiling weapons and drafting a kill list must remain in custody pending trial because he “poses a substantial risk of danger to the community,” prosecutors said in a Tuesday filing laying out additional evidence.
Christopher Hasson asked to be released from federal custody last week since prosecutors have not charged him with terrorism-related offenses, despite referring to him as a “domestic terrorist.” The judge overseeing the case had offered Hasson the opportunity to ask to reconsider his detention if prosecutors did not charge him with crimes related to the white nationalist leanings and alleged murder plot they laid out in their initial court filings.
But prosecutors say that can’t happen, noting that a Maryland grand jury brought a four-count indictment charging Hasson with illegal possession of unregistered and unmarked silencers, illegal possession of 17 firearms by an addict of controlled substances, and possession of the opioid Tramadol. The new filing provides new details about what prosecutors allege Hasson planned to do with these materials.
“The defendant’s Internet search history lays bare his views on race, which in turn inform his criminal conduct,” they write.
Those searches, between summer 2017 and his February 2019 arrest, include “white homeland,” “when are whites going to wake up,” “please god let there be a race war,” and “best nigger killing gun.” In addition to the “hit list” he maintained of prominent Democrats and journalists, Hasson searched for the home addresses of two Supreme Court justices “within minutes before and after searching firearm sales websites.”
Prosecutors also lay out additional information about Hasson’s alleged history of fraternizing with dangerous white nationalists. They recount a 1995 police report in which Hasson and an associate paid a late-night visit to an unidentified victim who referred to the pair as “skinheads.” The associate beat the victim with his firearm and served “considerable” time in prison for attempted murder and maiming, prosecutors said.
Hasson’s lawyers have argued that he never meant to carry out any violent acts.
Read the latest filing below.
