Federal prosecutors in North Carolina are considering a plan that allows a neo-Nazi defendant to review discovery evidence from a seized hard drive that contained classified documents at a secure FBI facility.
The plan is described in a notice jointly filed by prosecutors in the Eastern District of North Carolina and defendant Jordan Duncan. The notice confirms reporting earlier this week by Raw Story that the government inadvertently turned over classified information to Duncan.
Referencing the snafu, the filing late Friday discloses that “the government will be separately discussing with counsel for defendant and potentially filing a motion requesting that the raw data be kept by the FBI, and arrangements made by the defense computer forensic expert to perform the analysis they would undertake within the FBI space.”
The notice goes on to say that the government would “seek access for the defendant himself during this review,” while removing Duncan from the custody of the U.S. Marshal. Left unexplained is whether custody would be transferred to another agency or whether Duncan would be released to review the evidence at the FBI facility.
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Raw Story is currently suing the U.S. Department of Defense, which oversees the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, for the release of information about the government’s investigation of Duncan for potentially mishandling classified materials. The government has previously claimed that “Duncan gathered a library of information, some military-owned, regarding firearms, explosives, and nerve toxins and shared that information” with other co-defendants in a white supremacist group plotting an attack on the power grid.
Duncan’s trial was originally scheduled to begin on March 4, until the discovery that the government shared classified information threw the plan into disarray.
According to the recent notice to the court, the government and defendant are now unable to agree on a new trial date. The defense team claims the earliest they will be prepared for trial is mid-June. The government has only limited availability in June and then two weeks in July. After that, they claim their witnesses would have scheduling conflicts.
“The public’s interest in a speedy trial is now weighty in this matter,” the parties wrote in their notice to the court.
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