The four-man, eight-woman jury deliberated Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, before returning its decision in a fifth-floor courtroom with at least 14 uniformed sheriff's deputies cordoning off Stanley, the attorneys, judge and jury from the public benches.

"I'm never surprised when people allow the government to destroy their rights," Stanley, who remains free on bond until a Sept. 10 sentencing, said outside the Adams County Justice Center as supporters gathered around him.

Diane Szostak, who identified herself as "a militia member from Michigan," said, "It was exactly what we expected from the system because the system is corrupt and it convicts innocent people."

Stanley, organizer of the Mutual Defense Pact Militia, was accused of sending Thornton Municipal Judge Charles J. Rose and 17th Judicial District Judge Donald W. Marshall Jr. a "notice of order" demanding that they reverse his conviction for a weapons violation or face arrest by the militia and a trial for treason.

Rose had convicted Stanley and sentenced him to 90 days in jail for carrying a firearm onto public property while campaigning as a Libertarian in September 2002. Marshall upheld the conviction when Stanley appealed.

"We felt that we had proved the case, and his basic argument was that the government was picking on him, and apparently the jury didn't think that was a sufficient reason to attempt to influence a judge," District Attorney Robert Grant said.

Jury foreman Dan Dionne said the jurors were "cordial and appropriate" in their deliberations.

"Some of us had our minds made up early on, and some of us did not, but it wasn't a matter of ganging up on a holdout or anything like that," Dionne said.

The jury foreman said he asked the jurors to take several preliminary votes as they deliberated.

"There was support for Mr. Stanley, but it was a matter of better understanding what we were passing a verdict on," Dionne said.

Stanley and his lawyers tried to argue that the Thornton ordinance became invalid and his municipal conviction should have been voided after Gov. Bill Owens signed a law last year that limited the ability of local governments to regulate firearms.

Stanley's attorneys argued that one of the law's regulations spelled out that an anti-firearms ordinance that was enacted by a municipality prior to March 2003 was "void and unenforceable."

However, the district attorney said he believed the jury focused its deliberations on whether Stanley committed a crime against the judges.

"I felt that the defense was really a jury nullification defense," Grant said. "It was an attempt to get the jury to disregard the law, which in the end, after they reviewed all of the testimony and the evidence, they did not do."

Deliberations on Wednesday took a strange twist when jurors asked retired Supreme Court Justice Joseph R. Quinn, who presided, if Stanley had access to their names and addresses.

Dionne said some of the jurors were "nervous because of the negative connotations that go with 'militia' nowadays."

After the trial, Stanley said jurors have no cause for alarm.

"I know their names, and I don't care," he said. "I'm not a threat to them or anyone else; but, if attacked, I would defend myself."

Stanley said his defense attorney R. Scott Reisch would appeal Thursday's verdict. Stanley's sentence could range from probation to a maximum of 12 years in prison.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_298 9656,00.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------