COEUR D'ALENE -- A Woodland, Idaho, man will spend 77 months in federal prison, visiting U.S. District Court Judge Robert Whaley ruled Thursday.
Larry Raugust, 54, pleaded guilty in June to charges he built and placed explosive booby traps around a friend's property near Kamiah,
designed to kill police coming to execute a legal eviction. Federal investigators also linked Raugust to threats against U.S. District Court Judge Edward J. Lodge.
"I find you to be straight-forward, polite and honest in your convictions," said Whaley, who sits on the federal bench in the Eastern Washington District in Spokane. "But to you, a piece of property is more valuable than human life. In only a few, limited cases that can be true, and this is not one."
Whaley also ordered Raugust to serve three years of supervised release, 100 hours community service and a $1,500 special assessment.
Raugust's case in federal court was marked by numerous filings, spiced with dogmatic antigovernment rhetoric. Raugust refers to himself as "Larry Eugene of the house of Raugust."
Several motions, which bypassed Raugust's lawyer, claimed Raugust's plea was coerced and that he wanted to fire his lawyer.
But Raugust refuted those claims when asked directly by Whaley.
Raugust has been linked to the patriot movement since 1998. He lived at Almost Heaven, a rural housing community for "patriots" and "constitutionalists," near Kamiah. The community was started by national patriot leader Bo Gritz in 1995.
Raugust also led the self-proclaimed Idaho County Posse, which in late 2001 drew attention by threatening the sheriff for allegedly failing to defend citizens against governmental abuse.
Raugust also allegedly has ties to a militia group called the Idaho Mountain Boys.
During a number of hearings, Raugust supporters from the constitutionalist camp flocked to the courthouse. On Thursday, just one supporter attended.
At the start of Thursday's hearing, Whaley again referred to direct filings by Raugust that claimed he wanted to fire lawyer Mike Moorer and, he was coerced into pleading guilty.
"I don't believe there was any coercion," Raugust said.
He told Whaley why he pleaded guilty.
"I made my plea based on what I was told by Mr. Moorer," Raugust said. "I was led to believe a group of people who supported me did not support me anymore."
Moorer, Raugust said, "said my testimony would not stand up under the prosecutor's questioning. I was told not to expect any justice in this court. ... I'm still looking for an effective lawyer and I want a trial."
Moorer said he explained to his client the American legal system is not based on the anti-government slant many constitutionalist groups profess.
"I told him he can't receive justice in this courtroom as he perceives it," Moorer said.
Many constitutionalist legal beliefs are based on smatterings of dogma pieced together from philosophies of common law mixed with passages from the Magna Carta.
Constitutionalists also claim the legal system is not based on the U.S. Constitution and believe U.S. courts are illegal admiralty or martial law courts because of the decorative gold fringe which lace the edges of courtroom flags.
Moorer argued his client was a farm boy who went into the Navy, then the Washington National Guard before going to work as a mechanic for Washington Water Power. He said his client's life crumbled when his 18-year marriage fell apart and ended in a contentious divorce in 1995.
He said Raugust became disillusioned with current politics.
"He believes the U.S. is becoming more communistic," Moorer said.
The crime he pleaded guilty to, Moorer said, was hinged on the belief he was protecting another's property.
Raugust was charged with making pipe bombs and land mines he planted around the foreclosed property of a friend, Steven Cain near Kamiah. Cain, whose whereabouts are unknown, is believed to have left the area.
Much of the case against Raugust was built around the testimony of a confidential informant who infiltrated the group.
During pretrial hearings, witnesses said Raugust talked about the explosive devices and drew federal agents a map of where the bombs were placed.
During the bomb-making investigation, authorities also learned of possible threats on a local police officer and decided Raugust posed an imminent threat.
They picked him up last October at a rest stop in Lenore after the bombs and weapons were found where he was staying at Cain's Weippe home.
Officials said Lodge became a target after he dismissed charges against FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi for killing the wife and daughter of white separatist Randy Weaver during the 1992 siege at Ruby Ridge.
Two other members of the Idaho Mountain Boys, also connected with the plot to kill Lodge, were convicted in a 1999 for plotting to blow up a propane tank farm near Sacramento, Calif.
An alleged associate of Raugust, James M. Newmeyer, 34, of Kamiah was sentenced by Lodge in May to 63 months in prison.
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Tribune reporter Dean Ferguson contributed to this story.
