A Florida man is heading to trial in Maryland on Monday for an alleged terrorist plot to destroy the power grid in the Baltimore region. The trial began with jury selection. On Monday, more than 27 jurors were chosen to sit on the 36-member body. Court is adjourned until Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 9:15 a.m. According to court documents, Brandon Clint Russell of Orlando, Fla., planned to carry out attacks against electrical substations between 2022 and 2023 in furtherance of his neo-Nazi beliefs. (…) According to prosecutors, Russell is the co-founder of the neo-Nazi organization Atomwaffen. In January 2018, He was sentenced to five years in federal prison for possession of explosives, according to the Department of Justice. He was arrested in 2017 after Tampa Police responded to a double homicide at an apartment where Russell had been living with the alleged suspect and two of the victims. Court documents show the four roommates were active members of Atomwaffen. Russell was not home at the time of this incident. The alleged homicide suspect told police he saw Russell participate in online neo-Nazi chatrooms where he threatened to kill people and blow up infrastructure. He also told police Russell had explosive materials in the apartment. (…) Russell allegedly collaborated with Sarah Beth Clendaniel of Catonsville, Maryland in the terrorist plot. According to court documents, the two met in 2018 and they both believed in “accelerationism,” a white supremacist belief that the current government needs to be violently overthrown to create societal and government collapse. Clendaniel was arrested in February 2023 and a search of her home revealed various firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, according to court documents. At the time, she was prohibited from owning a firearm as a convicted felon. In May 2024, Clendaniel accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to trying to destroy the power grid. In September 2024, she was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
via cbsnews: Neo-Nazi leader on trial in Maryland for alleged terrorist plot to destroy Baltimore-area power grid