By Canadian Press

Lawyers, prosecutors in Patrik Mathews white-supremacy case seek extension

Jun 17, 2020 | 9:45 AM

WASHINGTON — Prosecutors and lawyers for a former Canadian Forces reservist and two other men at the centre of an alleged white-supremacist plot to trigger a U.S. race war say they all need more time to build their cases.

Patrik Mathews, a former combat engineer, vanished from Beausejour, Man., last year following media reports alleging he was a recruiter for a white-supremacist group called The Base.

He’s been in custody in Maryland since January, along with two other alleged co-conspirators, Brian Lemley Jr. and William Bilbrough.

Lawyers for all three have joined with federal prosecutors to petition a Maryland judge to give them until Aug. 31 to complete their pretrial work, which they say has been slowed by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Mathews has pleaded not guilty to four charges, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison: two counts each of two charges related to possessing and transporting a firearm and ammunition while in the country illegally.

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Prosecutors allege Mathews videotaped himself advocating violence to incite a civil war in the name of creating a white “ethno-state,” and plotted with Lemley to violently disrupt a gun-rights rally in Virginia.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2020.

The Canadian Press