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| Christopher Cantwell |
Christopher Cantwell, who passed through the libertarian movement for about three days, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Paul Barbadoro.
Cantwell, 40, was arrested at his Keene, New Hampshire apartment in January 2020. He went on trial in September on charges tied to a feud with a rival neo-Nazi. He testified in his own defense. A federal jury found Cantwell guilty of one count of threatening to injure property or reputation and one count of transmitting extortionate communications. They found him not guilty of a third charge, according to Informant News.
“The nature of your behavior is so serious, so egregiously wrong, that a significant sentence is required,” Barbadoro said.
From The Informant:
Cantwell delivered a rambling and emotional statement which he began by offering a Mike Tyson quote: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” (The point he was trying to make was unclear.)
Cantwell discussed the fact that the charges stemmed from a feud he had with rival neo-Nazis — a group he had attempted to report to law enforcement.
-RWCantwell compared the rival Nazis to “black bloc,” mentioned “Satanists,” and complained about having been subjected to a “constant stream of non-stop harassment” from the group. He was overcome with emotion after describing law enforcement “ignoring” his “pleas for help.” He cried again while describing how he could not identify which members of the rival group were targeting him.
Sounds like victimless crimes to me, i.e. no violation of an actual property right.
ReplyDeleteBack in 2014/2015 the guy was pretty sharp, a really good writer on a lot of political topics that were just emerging. An activist of sorts as well. Was real public about his demons. I stopped following him when he went all in on the alt-right stuff and Trumpolini in the run up to the 2016 election. Later, I heard he was involved with the thing in Charlottesville. I'm sure it's more nuanced than what "Informant News" has to say but all I can guess he got involved with some doctrines and folks where 9/10 of them are Feds looking to make a case against you. It sounds like he threatened somebody in writing. Never a great idea, particularly these days. It's interesting what a judge thinks is so serious and so egregious vs. what is a-ok these days. Anyway, they got him.
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