A man who has been charged with plotting to bomb a Garden City apartment complex which houses a significant Somali population wants to get rid of his attorneys.
Patrick Stein asked the court to let his attorneys withdraw from his case saying that they have been providing "ineffective assistance of counsel." The attorneys for Stein are court appointed, but he says he wants to hire his own.
Patrick Stein, along with Gavin Wright and Curtis Allen, was arrested in connection with a plot to explode truck bombs at a Garden City housing complex. The plot was prevented by the FBI last October.
Stein is believed to be the ringleader of an isolated militia group called "The Crusaders."
U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren recently denied Stein's request to be released while awaiting trial, calling him a flight risk and said that Stein had expressed extreme hatred and threatened violence against Muslims.
All three men pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.
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Aileen LeBlanc is news director at KMUW. Follow her on Twitter @Aileen_LeBlanc.
To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.
