A federal judge says he was considering the need to protect the public when he sentenced a Coast Guard officer in Maryland, who was accused of planning terrorist attacks to disrupt the government, to more than 13 years in prison on gun and drug charges.

U.S. District Judge George Hazel said in court in Greenbelt on Friday that Christopher Paul Hasson was getting ready to undertake a “mass casualty assault as a way to act out his white nationalist views,” reports the Associated Press.

Hasson, 50, was an active Coast Guard lieutenant when he was arrested last February. Prosecutors alleged he was a domestic terrorist trying to engineer fatal attacks on Democratic politicians and left-leaning figures, and a raid on his Silver Spring apartment found a stockpile of 15 guns, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, and drugs.

Prosecutors outlined years-worth of online activity that indicated an interest in violent actions. In a 2017 deleted email draft, Hasson wrote that he was “dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth,” per court documents, and when he reached out to an American neo-Nazi leader, Hasson described himself as a “long time White Nationalist, having been a skinhead 30 plus years ago before my time in the military.” His online searches included “destruction of washington dc,” “where do most senators live in dc,” “how to bring down the us government,” “how can white people rise,” and “how to rid the us of jews,” according to court documents, and that his hit list included a series of Democratic politicians, television journalists, and activist groups like the Democratic Socialists of America. 

But the United States does not have any federal laws specifically related to domestic terrorism. Though prosecutors endeavored to use his alleged search history to show that he was a danger to the general population, Hasson was charged with gun and drug crimes. In October of last year, he pleaded guilty two counts of possessing unregistered silencers, one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by an addict, and one count of possession of a controlled substance (the opioid Tramadol).

In sentencing documents, prosecutors sought 25 years behind bars for Hasson, who faced a maximum of 31 years for the crimes to which he pleaded guilty. Prosecutors wrote that “There is no question the defendant intended and planned to turn his thoughts into action.”

However, Hasson’s defense attorneys requested that he be sentenced with time served since his arrest last February. They noted that, despite the picture prosecutors painted of their client, he ultimately did not face any charges related to terrorism. “The criminal case against Mr. Hasson has turned out to be little more than a run-of-the mill firearms-possession case,” defense attorneys wrote in sentencing documents.

Hazel, the judge, said that Hasson wasn’t being sentenced for his views, but for the actions he was planning, according to NBC 4 reporter Mark Segraves.

Hasson isn’t the first local person espousing white supremacist views who was ultimately jailed under gun charges. A D.C. man who identified as a neo-Nazi pleaded guilty to a federal gun charge, and was released last September with time served.

Previously:
Silver Spring Man Accused Of Plotting Terrorist Attacks Pleads Guilty To Gun Charges
Judge To Allow Pre-Trial Release Of Silver Spring Man Accused Of Plotting Attacks On Democrats, Journalists
What We Learned From The Court Documents For The Silver Spring ‘Domestic Terrorist’ In The Coast Guard