Lawyers for members of the Hutaree militia asked for a mistrial just as federal prosecutors prepared to rest their case because they say the government withheld information about the undercover FBI agent in the case, the Detriot Free Press reports:
The information — which the defense stumbled upon only this week — involves a relationship between an FBI agent who had infiltrated the Hutaree and a New Jersey man who was paid to collect information on white supremacists and hate groups starting in 2003.
According to defense lawyers, the government’s star witness in the Hutaree case, FBI agent Stephen Haug — who spent months spying on the group while undercover — was the FBI handler for the New Jersey informant. The informant, Hal Turner, was a right-wing radio host and blogger who made threats against critics and public officials while on the FBI payroll.
