Anti-government newsletter publisher gets 30 years

UNION, Mo. -- The eastern Missouri publisher of an anti-government newsletter who was shot by state troopers after pulling a gun was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison by a judge he immediately likened to a terrorist.

Jeffrey Weinhaus, 47, was convicted last month of charges of assaulting a law enforcement officer, armed criminal action and illegal morphine possession, as well as a marijuana misdemeanor. Franklin County Circuit Judge Keith Sutherland imposed the jury-recommended 63 years combined but ordered Weinhaus serve the various sentences simultaneously, crediting him with time he's already spent jailed.

Weinhaus, casting himself as the only victim, decried the sentence as unfair and called the judge "a black-robed terrorist, an enemy combatant no different than Osama bin Laden," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Weinhaus had to be dragged by deputies from the courtroom.

His legal troubles surfaced in August 2012 when he was a candidate for Crawford County coroner. He posted a YouTube video in which he says, "what I've been trying to lay down over the last 16 years is my right to go in there and blast you [expletive] out of there if we have to."

"You're going down one way or another," he added during the posting shown during his trial.

Soon after the video was posted, witnesses testified, Missouri State Highway Patrol investigators seized computers from his home, along with marijuana, related paraphernalia and morphine tablets.

During a September 2012 arranged meeting with Weinhaus at a gas station near St. Clair, Mo., troopers were looking to serve him with an arrest warrant when he pulled a pistol from a holster. Troopers then shot Weinhaus in the chest, neck and head.

On Monday, Weinhaus said he was stupid to bring the gun to the meeting but insisted he never pulled it.

Weinhaus' attorney said his client plans to appeal.

Jurors last month acquitted Weinhaus of a second count of assaulting a law enforcement officer and armed criminal action. At the defense's request, the judge threw out charges of tampering with a judicial official and resisting arrest.

------

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com