Leader in International Neo-Nazi Group Indicted for Soliciting Hate Crimes and Mass Violence

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced last week the federal indictment of the leader of an international neo-Nazi group. The press release said in part:

A federal grand jury in Brooklyn yesterday returned a four-count indictment charging Georgian national Michail Chkhikvishvili, also known as ... “Commander Butcher” ... with soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence in New York City.  Chkhikvishvili was arrested in Chișinău, Moldova on July 6, 2024 pursuant to an Interpol Wanted Person Diffusion.... Chkhikvishvili is alleged to be a leader of the Maniac Murder Cult,... an international racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist group.  Chkhikvishvili allegedly recruited others to commit violent acts in furtherance of MKY’s ideologies, including planning and soliciting a mass casualty attack in New York City....

Beginning in approximately November 2023, Chkhikvishvili solicited [an FBI undercover agent ("UC")] ... to commit violent crimes....  Chkhikvishvili provided detailed plans and materials such as bomb-making instructions and guidance on making Molotov cocktails.... In November 2023, Chkhikvishvili began planning a mass casualty attack in New York City to take place on New Year’s Eve.  The scheme involved an individual dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out candy laced with poison to racial minorities.  The scheme also involved providing candy laced with poison to children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn.  Chkhikvishvili drafted step-by-step instructions to carry out the scheme and shared with the UC detailed manuals on creating and mixing lethal poisons and gases.  He also instructed the UC on methods of making ricin-based poisons in powder and liquid form....

Prison Sentences Imposed in Two Separate Antisemitism Cases

Yesterday, an Indiana federal district court sentenced 67-year-old Andrezj Boryga to 24 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release after Boryga pleaded guilty to transmitting antisemitic threats in interstate commerce.  According to a Justice Department press release:

... [B]etween July 9 and Dec. 14, 2022, Boryga left voicemails at Anti-Defamation League offices located in New York, Texas, Colorado, and Nevada. Boryga used antisemitic slurs on eight voicemails as he threatened to assault or kill Jewish people.

Yesterday a New Jersey federal district court sentenced 29-year-old Dion Marsh to 40 years in prison followed by 5 years of supervised release after Marsh pleaded guilty to committing a series of violent assaults on visibly identifiable members of the Lakewood, New Jersey, Orthodox Jewish community.  According to a Justice Department press release:

[Marsh] pleaded guilty... to ... five counts of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and one count of carjacking. With respect to the Shepard Byrd Act violations, Marsh admitted to willfully causing bodily injury to five victims and attempting to kill and cause injuries with dangerous weapons to four of the victims because they are Jewish.

Indiana Man Indicted for Sending Death Threats to ADL Staff

The Department of Justice announced last week that a federal grand jury has indicted an Indiana man for making telephone death threats to offices of the Anti-Defamation League in New York, Houston, Denver and Las Vegas. The Indictment (full text) in United States v. Boryga, (SD IN, Oct. 3, 2023), charges defendant with four counts of transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure. It charges that defendant chose the threat targets because of the actual and perceived religion of ADL employees and members. According to DOJ:

If convicted on all counts, Boryga faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.

Church Autonomy Doctrine Does Not Shield Criminal Conduct

 In Hochstetler v. State of Indiana, (IN App., July 27, 2023), an Indiana state appellate court held that criminal conduct is not shielded by the church autonomy doctrine. In the case, three Old Order Amish bishops were convicted of misdemeanor intimidation for threatening to place an Amish wife under a bann if she did not remove herself from a protective order she had obtained to protect her and her children from her husband.

New Ohio Law Focuses on Zoom-Bombing and Other Disruptions of Religious Services

As reported by JTA, the Ohio legislature in its final session earlier this month gave final passage to H.B. 504 (full text) amending the ban on disturbing a lawful meeting to increase penalties and to focus specifically on disturbing religious services.  The Act now provides in part:

Disturbing a lawful meeting is a misdemeanor of the first degree if either of the following applies:

(1) The violation is committed with the intent to disturb or disquiet any assemblage of people met for religious worship at a tax-exempt place of worship, regardless of whether the conduct is within the place at which the assemblage is held or is on the property on which that place is located and disturbs the order and solemnity of the assemblage.

(2) The violation is committed with the intent to prevent, disrupt, or interfere with a virtual meeting or gathering of people for religious worship, through use of a computer, computer system, telecommunications device, or other electronic device or system, or in any other manner.

Clause (2) of this section is particularly aimed at the practice of Zoom-bombing religious services that are being held online. Zoom-bombing has especially been used during the COVID pandemic to create antisemitic disruptions of online synagogue services.  In Ohio, a first-degree misdemeanor is punishable by up to 6 months in jail and a fine of up to $1000.

Some Charges Against Tree of Life Synagogue Shooter Are Dismissed

United States v. Bowers, (WD PA, Dec. 15, 2022), involves the prosecution of the defendant who is charged with killing 11 people in 2018 at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. He is charged under a 63 count Superseding Indictment. 25 of those charges allege discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.  In this decision, the court dismissed charges of violating 18 USC §924(c)-- use of a firearm in a crime of violence-- to the extent that the charges rely on 18 USC §249(a)(1) as being a crime of violence. As described in by the court:

Section 249(a)(1) applies to anyone who “willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person . . . .”...

Relying on Third Circuit precedent, the court concluded that it is possible to "willfully cause bodily injury" without the use of force, for example, deliberate failure to provide food or medical care. The court concluded:

Because Section 249(a)(1) does not require the government to prove, in every case, “the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another,” it does not qualify as a “crime of violence.”

However, to the extent that the 25 charges of violating 18 USC §924(c) rely on a violation of 18 USC Section 247(a)(2)-- willful obstruction, by force or threat of force, of individuals in the enjoyment of their free exercise of religious beliefs-- the charges were not dismissed.  Section 247(a)(2), the court held, is a crime of violence.