BILLINGS, Mont. -- Seven leaders of the anti-government Montana Freemen were sentenced to stiff prison terms for conspiring against the nation's banking system, though a judge spared two of the defendants' wives, who were sentenced to time served.
U.S. District Judge John Coughenour ordered ringleader LeRoy Schweitzer to 22 1/2 years behind bars Tuesday, hoping to send "a loud and clear message to those who pass this hatred and ugliness around."Schweitzer's court-appointed lawyer, federal defender Tony Gallagher, said the ruling amounted to a life sentence for his 61-year-old client.
U.S. Attorney Sherry Scheel Matteucci said she had mixed feelings about some of the sentences but termed them "very, very significant" and said she was satisfied overall.
Schweitzer and five other defendants refused to enter the courtroom, continuing to demonstrate their scorn for the government. They were able to watch the proceedings via TV from a holding cell after Coughenour declined to have marshals bring them in by force.
Nine Freemen were convicted in two trials last year. They and their followers were accused of trying to undermine the nation's banking system by issuing thousands of bogus checks totaling billions of dollars.
"What we are talking about is a calculated and organized program to undermine the banking system of this country and to encourage other, more ignorant people to violate the law," Coughenour said.
About two dozen members of the anti-government group, living on a farm on the plains of Montana, held FBI agents at bay for 81 days in 1995 before surrendering without a shot being fired.