Friends, family say feds all wrong about young Hutaree militiaman

She calls him Junior, a follower and a pleaser.

The last thing Donna Popejoy would ever call her son is a terrorist.

But that's what the government claimed when it arrested David Stone Jr. and other Hutaree militia members in raids in Sandusky and other locations a year ago this week.

On March 29, 2010, the feds busted the group, accused of plotting a violent revolt against the government that included killing a local law enforcement official and then bombing the funeral.

"It kind of blew my mind because I'm thinking, 'That's not my son,'" Popejoy said, recalling his arraignment in federal court in Detroit. "I still have a hard time believing this. It's unreal."

Reality kicks in when she thinks about the tether on her son's ankle.

For the last year, Stone Jr. has been free on bond while monitored by that tether, awaiting trial on charges that he was part of a violent militia group headed by his adoptive father, David Stone Sr., who is locked up pending trial.

Of the nine Hutaree defendants, five remain locked up, and four are free on bond.

After the arrests, authorities painted a picture of the Hutaree as a potentially violent militia group that regularly trained and was ready to act to overthrow the government. The group -- named to mean "Christian warrior" -- included several relatives and other associates in rural Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

Perhaps the most unlikely face of the accused militiamen was Stone Jr., a young-looking 20-year-old who had a new baby at home when he was arrested.

Stone Jr. is charged with seditious conspiracy, attempting to use weapons of mass destruction, and teaching/demonstrating the use of explosive materials. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.

While awaiting trial, Stone Jr. has been working on a sheep farm in rural Lenawee County, Mich., raising his 18-month-old son Elijah, studying for his GED and planning a future with his fiancee, Brittany.

The case against them has turned into a tumultuous legal debate. At issue is whether the government even has a case.

Defense lawyers claim it's a classic First Amendment case -- the defendants were merely engaged in tough talk, protected by free-speech rights. The government claims the defendants were armed with a stockpile of weapons, and violence was imminent.

U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts recently concluded the government had enough evidence to proceed to trial, stating in her March 1 order: "The government is not prosecuting these defendants solely on the basis of their speech and its likelihood to incite violence in others. Defendants are accused of conspiring to commit unlawful acts against the United States government, and not merely of expressing unpopular ideas that might incite others to rise up against the government."

The trial is now set for Sept. 13.

Stone Jr.'s lawyers, family and friends claim the government has it all wrong about him. Stone Jr. is accused of teaching other Hutaree members how to build and use explosives, along with his adoptive father. The feds say the two conducted a training seminar in Clayton, Mich., in June 2009, where Hutaree members learned about explosive devices.

But Stone Jr. couldn't hurt anyone, much less blow up a funeral to kill innocent civilians, his family says. If anything, some say, he was brainwashed by an overbearing, adoptive father he looked up to.

"There's a possibility that Junior went along with his dad because his dad kind of coaxed him into it," said Popejoy, who divorced Stone Sr. in 2006. Stone Jr., born Sean Michaels, never knew his biological father. He was 3 or 4 when his mother married David Stone Sr. They became close, camping, riding bikes, shooting guns and hunting together. Stone Jr. also was homeschooled at the insistence of Stone Sr.

Kevin Bryant, Stone Jr.'s future father-in-law, is baffled by the criminal charges.

"He is probably one of the best fathers I've ever seen in my life," Bryant said. Stone Jr., his daughter and grandson all live with him in his two-story farmhouse on a dirt road in Onsted, Mich., not far from the alleged militia training grounds.

Joyce and Claude Vandevender, whose farm he has been working on since he was a boy, rely on Stone Jr. to keep the farm going, take care of home repairs and keep an eye on the house and barn animals when they go on vacation.

"I would like people to know our David," said Joyce Vandevender, 70, a retired nurse administrator who is on a mission to save Stone Jr. and keep him free.

"David is like a son to us. We know in our hearts -- we know -- David Jr. would not hurt anybody."

Todd Shanker, one of Stone Jr.'s lawyers, is another strong supporter.

In court documents, Shanker has argued there is "not a shred of evidence" to show that Stone Jr. knew of any plans to use weapons of mass destruction against local police officers, "let alone that he agreed to such a plan."

"We feel so strongly about his innocence," Shanker said. "We had that feeling when we first talked to him. It's gotten stronger and stronger."

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(c) 2011, Detroit Free Press.

By Tresa Baldas - Detroit Free Press (MCT)

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