Terrorgram Terror Charges: Week in a Nutshell, 9/13/24

September 13, 2024

Terrorgram Terror Charges: Week in a Nutshell, 9/13/24

Candles and posters with photos and messages left by activists in front of the Consulate General of the Slovak Republic in Krakow, to commemorate two people killed outside a gay bar in Bratislava, Slovakia. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Here is some of the legal news making the headlines this week:

The Department of Justice announced hate crime, solicitation of murder, and terrorism charges against two leaders of the Terrorgram Collective terrorist group.

Federal prosecutors accused Dallas Humber and Matthew Allison of orchestrating, planning, and offering guidance for white supremacist attacks. The attacks include, among others, creating a hit list of U.S. government officials to assassinate, providing guidance for a planned attack on energy facilities in New Jersey, and inciting a shooting at an LGBT bar in Slovakia.
Prosecutors accuse Humber and Allison of using the messaging app, Telegram, to disseminate their white supremacist message. The app’s founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, is facing criminal charges in France for allegedly enabling criminal activity on the app.
At a press conference announcing the charges against Humber and Allison, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Kristen Clarke said DOJ will continue to investigate terrorism and hate crimes cultivated via the internet. Clarke said, “This indictment charges the leaders of a transnational terrorist group with several civil rights violations, including soliciting others to engage in hate crimes and terrorist attacks against Black, immigrant, LGBT, and Jewish people. Make no mistake, as hate groups turn to online platforms, the federal government is adapting and responding to protect vulnerable communities.”

A New York judge adjourned former President Donald Trump’s sentencing for his Manhattan conviction to November—after the presidential election.

In May, Manhattan jurors convicted Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Trump was originally scheduled to be sentenced in July, but the judge overseeing the matter, Judge Juan Merchan, adjourned the proceedings to September in light of the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.
Trump subsequently filed a motion to appeal his conviction, invoking the Supreme Court’s immunity decision as grounds to set aside the guilty verdict.
Throughout the summer, Trump has repeatedly asked Merchan to indefinitely postpone sentencing, or, at a minimum, delay it until after the presidential election in November. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg deferred to the judge to decide when to schedule Trump’s sentencing.
In a new order, Merchan further postponed Trump’s sentencing until November 26, three weeks after the election. Merchan also adjourned his decision on Trump’s motion to overturn the conviction until after the election. Explaining his decision, Merchan said the postponement “best advances the interests of justice.” Merchan continued, “Adjourning decision on the motion and sentencing, if such is required, should dispel any suggestion that the Court will have issued any decision or imposed sentence either to give an advantage to, or to create a disadvantage for, any political party and/or any candidate for any office.”