WICHITA — A Kansas man accused of plotting to attack Somali immigrants has asked a judge to free him pending trial.
A defense motion filed Tuesday asks U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren to review the detention order for Patrick Stein, whom prosecutors say was the leader of a militia group called “The Crusaders.”
In October, U.S. Magistrate Judge Gwynne Birzer had ordered Stein held in jail until his trial, finding he poses “a grave danger” to the community.
Prosecutors say Stein along with co-defendants Gavin Wright and Curtis Allen conspired to detonate truck bombs at an apartment complex where 120 Somali immigrants live in the meatpacking town of Garden City. One unit is used as a mosque.
Wright is formally of Manhattan.
They have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction.
