‘Death ray’ case set for trial

PHOTOGRAPHER: Patrick Dodson

Glendon Scott Crawford is led out of the James T. Foley Federal Courthouse in Albany following a bail hearing Thursday, June 20, 2013, the day after being charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

Not only did Glendon Scott Crawford reach out to two markedly different organizations with his plan for a deadly mobile X-ray device, but he had detailed plans for the device when a federal informant first contacted him, federal prosecutors wrote in a new memorandum filed this week.

Prosecutors cited Crawford’s alleged independent conduct in pushing against expected defense contentions that he was entrapped by federal investigators and would not have otherwise committed the offenses without government prodding.

“That the defendant’s plan was so developed is what originally caused the FBI to be concerned about the defendant’s actions once it learned of his solicitations,” prosecutors wrote in the memorandum. ”The government, by definition, could not have induced the defendant to do something he had already begun on his own.”

The prosecution memorandum, along with one from the defense and other documents from both sides filed this week, all indicate Crawford’s scheduled Aug. 17 trial date will go forward.

Crawford, 49, of Providence, a former General Electric Co. industrial mechanic, faces charges of attempting to produce and use a radiological dispersal device, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and distributing information related to weapons of mass destruction.

He and co-defendant Eric Feight were arrested in June 2013 after a yearlong investigation. Feight, 55, of Stockport, pleaded guilty in January 2014 to providing material support to terrorists. He faces up to 15 years in prison.

Regarding the defense’s anticipated entrapment arguments, the defense filing indicates the issues are greater than Crawford’s alleged early moves. The biggest issue is with the conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction charge. That count requires intent to use it in the United States. Crawford’s defense attorney, Kevin Luibrand, wrote that without the lengthy encouragement of government agents, Crawford would not have committed the conspiracy count.

The defense will play at trial multiple recordings not played by the prosecution that ”show both the subtle and specific actions by the government to coax the Defendant from a generic idea which was not a crime toward actions in the United States that would arguably constitute proof of a crime” under the conspiracy count, Luibrand wrote.

Luibrand also argued that prosecutors won’t be able to establish that Crawford’s actions reached the level of producing or constructing the device and government experts won’t be able to show the final device was capable of endangering human life. The defense also contends it will show Crawford renounced the attempt and will offer testimony that he was not predisposed to commit the offenses charged.

Federal prosecutors have described Crawford as a Ku Klux Klan member driven by his hatred for Muslims to harm them from afar. They also argue he thought he was on the verge of creating an X-ray weapon that would allow him to do just that.

He unsuccessfully tried in April 2012 to get others to help him locally, describing what he was trying to build as “Hiroshima on a light switch” that would kill “everything with respiration” by the next morning. As part of the FBI-led sting, he met with undercover agents posing as people sympathetic to his cause.

The operation went on for 14 months. He and Feight drew up schematics for the system, prosecutors claim, and Crawford even selected possible Capital Region targets where it could be activated to harm Muslims.

Crawford was taken into custody inside a vacant garage that once housed Shorty’s Auto Body in Schaghticoke just as he was powering up the X-ray device. Investigators had rendered the device harmless, unknown to Crawford. Feight was arrested a short time later.

The prosecution’s filing also included other glimpses at how the case will be presented. The case involved lengthy wiretaps, but prosecutors intend to present only about eight hours of total recordings. The rest is anticipated to be summarized by agents.

Prosecutors also intend to show the device itself to jurors, allowing them to view it in a secure room within the courthouse.

“The device itself is very real, and its size, relative weight, component composition and portability are directly relevant to the charged offenses,” the prosecution memorandum reads. ”Juror inspection of it will give context to, and corroborate, other evidence the jury will see and hear.”