The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld the original sentence given to Justin Watkins, 26 of Bad Axe, the leader of national white supremacist group “The Base,” according to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.
As determined by the Circuit Court, the plea agreement and sentence evaluation were deemed unambiguous, in addition to Watkins’ plea to Conspiring to Train for a Civil Disorder and Felony Firearm having not been made involuntarily. The decision reversed a May 2023 order by the Tuscola County Circuit Court. This order was what initially granted Watkins’ motion for resentencing; due to the reversal, his consecutive mandatory 2 year incarceration for Felony Firearm and the 32 months to 4 years he received for Conspiring to Train for a Civil Disorder will be maintained.
“I am relieved to see this sentence upheld for the leader of a domestic hate group here in our State,” said Nessel. “This organization goes far beyond speech in training for violence to advance their racist agenda. Securing this conviction to train for civil disorder established an historic precedent in the Michigan court system. My office will continue to prosecute hate crimes and domestic terrorism to the fullest extent of the law, as we did here in historic fashion.”
Watkins was originally charged in October of 2020 for a December 2019 incident in which he and several members terrorized a Dexter family. Of which, they mistakenly believed was the home of a podcaster who had spoken out against the Neo-Nazi movement. Later investigations revealed that Watkins and two other members had also entered vacant Corrections properties in Caro so they could evaluate them for paramilitary training.
“The Base,” a literal translation of “Al-Qaeda,” was founded in 2018 and advocates for violence and criminal acts against the U.S. Along with supporting Nazi ideology and extreme anti-Semitism, it claims to be training for a race war to establish white ethno-nationalist rule in areas of the U.S., including Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
