Details of Alleged Tenn. Assassination Plot

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 05:33:43 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)

Share This: Digg!

Here are more details of the arrests in Tennessee today.

Agents seized a rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and three pistols from the men when they were arrested. Authorities alleged the two men were preparing to break into a gun shop to steal more.

Here is the Affidavit in support of the Complaint against Daniel Cowart and Paul Schesselman which has been unsealed.

The Affidavit says both Cowart and his alleged partner Schlesselman have confessed their plan and provided details.

Another person mentioned is Cowart's friend, a woman named Danni Stafford. Since she wasn't charged, I'm assuming she's the one who dropped the dime on the two guys. According to the complaint, she agreed to assist them in a home robbery by driving the car. She drove them to the house the pair were going to rob and then drove to a waiting area. A dog and two cars scared the guys off and they called her to come back and get them. She did, they all left, and she went home.

< ATF Claims Assassination Plot Disrupted | McCain Says He Won't "Coddle Criminals" >

Legal

Nothing on this site should be construed as legal advice. TalkLeft does not give legal advice.

TalkLeft is not responsible for and often disagrees with material posted in the comments section. Read at your own risk.

Details of Alleged Tenn. Assassination Plot | 22 comments (22 topical)

Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

doesn't take a genius (5.00 / 2) (#4)
by txpublicdefender on Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 06:44:38 PM EST

It doesn't take a genius to pull of an assassination plot. Look at John Hinckley. He came very close to killing Reagan.

These guys deserve the presumption of innocence like everyone else, of course. But, I don't think we should just write it off because they may have been some low-intelligent, methed-out (not that I know they were) skinheads. They almost certainly would not have been able to pull it off and get away with it, but by then, the damage would have been done.

: Yeah (5.00 / 1) (#9)
by Socraticsilence on Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 10:03:19 PM EST

I was leaning more to the "crazy talk" side of things, but when its starts to look like they'd already begun assembling their weapons cache-- well, then were to the "prudent action by the ATF" end of the spectrum.

: pull off (none / 0) (#6)
by txpublicdefender on Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 06:45:07 PM EST

That should say "to pull off" instead of "to pull of." Duh.

"A dog and two cars scared the guys..." (5.00 / 1) (#17)
by desertswine on Tue Oct 28, 2008 at 10:13:12 AM EST

Hooray!! for dogs!!!

: Best home security system there is... (5.00 / 0) (#18)
by kdog on Tue Oct 28, 2008 at 10:26:11 AM EST

have a dog with a nasty bark and any potential evil-doers are moving on to the next house with no bark...guaranteed.

That cut-down shotgun (none / 0) (#1)
by scribe on Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 05:45:01 PM EST

is going to be The Big Problem for these guys.

Shooting out the church window, something less so.

Without that shotgun and shooting out the church window, it seems the case is pretty much at the talking-trash stage. Notwithstanding that it appears they were talking serious trash and carrying out overt acts in furtherance of their apparent conspiracy, I have to think that their plot was not as far advanced as was the tweakers' in Denver.

There is no indication they could have figured out where to go to get close to Obama and, in the last days of a campaign, he's moving so fast and so far they likely never could have caught up to him.

Their planning seems disjointed - how much you wanna bet these guys were using?

Strung out... (none / 0) (#2)
by kdog on Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 06:06:06 PM EST

or simply dumb as rocks.

But it looks like the first time they went to rob and kill they chickened out...I don't see any serious intent beyond sick talk and buying ski masks and rope. I certainly wouldn't want to be anywhere around these dudes, but a serious assasination plot it ain't...crazy dirtbags talkin' sh*t, as you said.

I gotta wonder why the AP runs with an "assasination plot" headline, why the ATF runs with that angle. Is the news manipulated, and to what degree?


Currying favor (none / 0) (#3)
by Cream City on Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 06:17:22 PM EST

with future administration? Friends in D.C. talk about how crazy that always gets about this time.

Were I the next prez, I'd see this as a sign that ATF still is wacko, no change since Waco. Not to be trusted to be anything but cowboys.


Waco (5.00 / 0) (#10)
by Socraticsilence on Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 10:06:04 PM EST

Still gets a bad rap- it was carried out in a grossly negligent fashion but I'm sorry when an apocolyptic cult starts stockpiling arms-- I want the government to step in, letting this stuff go is how things like the Tokyo Subway Attack happen.


It's how it was handled (none / 0) (#13)
by Cream City on Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 10:28:27 PM EST

that is a question relevant here again, yes.

(As for "cults," I've read up on the government's misunderstanding of too many of those to trust the standard story and would need to see records.)


One person's apocolyptic cult.... (none / 0) (#16)
by kdog on Tue Oct 28, 2008 at 08:51:04 AM EST

is the next's assembly of god...just sayin' in America you have the right to be batsh*t crazy until you hurt somebody.


Yep. I really had my mind changed (none / 0) (#19)
by Cream City on Tue Oct 28, 2008 at 04:52:59 PM EST

by a book recommended in a course my son took, a philosophy course on "new faiths." The book was the result of incredible research into government files on millennial "cults," as it called them.

Put it this way: If there is a second coming of Jesus, he better steer clear of the ATF, FBI, etc.


: You said it... (none / 0) (#22)
by kdog on Wed Oct 29, 2008 at 10:49:53 AM EST

Jesus didn't do such a great job evading the Roman versions of the ATF/FBI/etc. the first go round, hopefully he's learned an outlaw trick or two since then, if and when he decides to show up:)

their are strongly influencial parts (none / 0) (#21)
by of1000Kings on Tue Oct 28, 2008 at 11:58:40 PM EST

of the evangelical right that believe America should preemptively strike Iran in order to bring about the second coming...

so I guess evangelicals are an apocalyptic cult...


Lurid and grotesque (none / 0) (#20)
by jondee on Tue Oct 28, 2008 at 05:13:07 PM EST

sells.

Though, the question remains, at what point do you take the threat seriously? Untrained nuts have wracked up quite a body count in the last 100
years or so.


i'll take (none / 0) (#5)
by cpinva on Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 06:44:43 PM EST

for $100 alex!

these guys couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag, with a hole cut in the side.

personally, i liked the "dressed in white tuxedos with tophats, as they're blasting away from the windows of their vehicle" part, almost has a clockwork orangish air to it. except, i doubt these two clowns have ever read the book, or seen the movie.

i note that mr. cowart failed to graduate from high school. see boys and girls, this is what happens, when you don't get a good education, you come up with idiotic plans, based on an x-box game.

: hey, that sounds like elitism to me... (none / 0) (#7)
by of1000Kings on Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 07:02:30 PM EST

/sarcasm...

This story explains why Obama's (none / 0) (#8)
by CaptainAmerica08 on Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 07:28:02 PM EST

scheduled appearance here in NC Wed. is being kept secret. I thought it was strange when they announced the appearance at an undisclosed location but Michelle is going to be in Fayetteville Wed.

Am I the only one (none / 0) (#11)
by Socraticsilence on Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 10:07:08 PM EST

Starting to get a bit nervous about the mass rallies-- there's no way the Secret Service can check everyone.


Starting? (5.00 / 1) (#14)
by Cream City on Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 10:30:13 PM EST

Of course, why go to them at all is my stance. I haven't been tempted to sheeple behavior since the '60s. And for the Beatles, not for stuttering speakers mouthing speeches given many times before.


: Listening to NPR a lot.... (5.00 / 1) (#15)
by Fabian on Tue Oct 28, 2008 at 05:59:08 AM EST

and most of their interviews at McCain/Palin rallies have had LOUD music in the background. I just can't stand max volume anything. It sounds like noise to me. I guess it's supposed to pump up the crowd or something.
Plus being seriously short hampers my enjoyment of most crowded venues unless I'm in the front row or it's stadium seating.
So...can't see, can't hear - why go?

no, they can't. (none / 0) (#12)
by cpinva on Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 10:14:14 PM EST

however, when you live in a country where even presumptively smart people think the second amendment confers the right of any dumbass with the money to own a gun, that's kind of a risk you take.

btw, the second amendment does no such thing, jeralyn's pleadings to the contrary. that whole reading comprehension thing. see: for the purpose of a well regulated militia.
