He wanted to blow up Sacramento’s Democratic HQ; judge now questions his mental state
Three weeks after rejecting a plea agreement for a man accused of plotting to blow up Sacramento’s Democratic Party headquarters, a federal judge has delayed sentencing until defendant Ian Benjamin Rogers can have his mental status evaluated.
“Because the court desires more information as to defendant Ian Benjamin Rogers’s mental condition for the purpose of sentencing, the court hereby orders a psychiatric examination and report,” Senior U.S. District Judge Charles E. Breyer wrote in an order filed in San Francisco Friday.
Breyer, who halted a Sept. 28 sentencing hearing after saying Rogers appeared more concerned about the fact that he was caught than his actual plot, ordered that all sentencing documents be turned over to a San Francisco psychiatrist to “assess the defendant’s mental condition, recommend an appropriate course of treatment, if any, and assess the defendant’s dangerousness.”
The judge asked for a report back within 60 days, meaning the Oct. 27 hearing that had been set for Rogers and his co-defendant, Jarrod Copeland, has been postponed for Rogers.
Both men were accused by federal prosecutors of concocting a bizarre plot to firebomb the Democratic headquarters in downtown Sacramento, as well as a number of other targets, over their anger at then-President Donald Trump’s loss in November 2020 to President Joe Biden.
Both men accepted plea deals, the Justice Department says, but at the Sept. 28 hearing for Rogers, where lawyers had worked out a deal for Rogers to get between seven and nine years in prison, the judge refused to go along with the deal because of questions about Roger’s remorse.
“His regret was that his conduct led to his arrest and disclosure of his activities,” the judge said then. “And now the government was taking action against him. That’s his regret.
“Putting it another way, he regrets he was caught. I have to say, in 23 years I’ve never seen that type of statement. I’ve never seen a defendant come in and say I regret I was caught.”
Rogers’ attorney, Colin Cooper, said at the hearing that his client “regrets his conduct terribly” and told the judge that he had had many “sleepless nights about whether your honor was going to accept this plea agreement.”
Cooper had previously blamed Rogers’ actions on excessive beer drinking that spiraled into talk about getting revenge for Trump’s loss, and noted that Rogers had never been in trouble before.
But the judge noted that law enforcement who searched his Napa auto repair business and home after receiving a tip found five pipe bombs and 48 firearms, including four machine guns.
“He had an arsenal that would be the envy of the Ukrainian people,” the judge said, noting evidence that Rogers had sent a text message to Copeland at one point that read, “I want to blow up a democrat building bad.”
The judge’s order came the same week that another judge in Iowa ordered a competency hearing for a Sacramento-area resident who was arrested last year while driving across the country with an alleged plot to attack the White House and kill Biden, former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Kuachua Brillion Xiong, a former Merced grocery clerk and Sacramento resident, was arrested after he was stopped for speeding Dec. 21, 2021, in Cass County, Iowa, with his GPS set for directions that would take him to the White House, court filings say.
Court documents say Xiong appeared to have been living in his car, had an AR-15 rifle, body armor and boxes of ammunition and made statements that he wanted to “combat evil demons in the White House.”
A lawyer for Xiong filed court documents shortly after his arrest indicating plans to seek an insanity defense for Xiong, and the case has been in limbo since then, with status reports on Xiong filed under seal.
However, Chief Magistrate Judge Helen C. Adams issued an order last week for a competency hearing to be held Dec. 9 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, for Xiong, a move that may determine whether he is able to stand trial.
This story was originally published October 17, 2022 at 7:50 AM.