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Daniel Baker was convicted Thursday of making threats to attack right-wing provocateurs he believed were destined to descend on Florida’s Capitol building to take it over.
After two days of trial in which the 33-year-old Army veteran testified on his own behalf, jurors deliberated for about four hours before returning two guilty verdicts on federal counts he used the internet to transmit two true threats to kidnap or injure.
Baker, who has been held in federal detention in Tallahassee since his arrest, will be sentenced on Aug. 16.
He didn t react to the unanimous verdict issued by 12 jurors. However, friends of his in the gallery had expressions of shock on their face. They left the courthouse without commenting on the verdict. Both prosecutors and defense attorneys declined to comment.
Federal prosecutors began laying out their case against Daniel Baker, portraying him as an anarchist with a military background who was capable of carrying out the violent call to arms he posted online about attacking right-wing protesters at the Florida Capitol earlier this year.
Baker, 33, appeared in U.S. District Court Tuesday for the first day of his trial on two federal counts involving the transmission of threats over the internet to kill or injure. He signaled to U.S. Judge Allen C. Winsor that he would be testifying on his own behalf. Prosecutors could rest their case as early as Wednesday.
After the FBI warned about far-right attacks, agents arrested a leftist ex-soldier
Brittany Shammas and Gerrit De Vynck, The Washington Post
Feb. 14, 2021
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1of8The apartment building where Daniel Baker was arrested Jan. 15 in Tallahassee. The FBI charged him with using interstate commerce to threaten to injure or kidnap right-wing protesters he thought were planning to attack the Florida Capitol.Photo for The Washington Post by Charlotte KeslShow MoreShow Less
2of8A wall in the apartment that Daniel Baker shared with Eric Champagne bears the mark of a stun grenade that FBI agents used during the raid to arrest Baker on Jan. 15.Photo for The Washington Post by Charlotte KeslShow MoreShow Less