(AP) An Army private charged with plotting to murder members of his unit overseas with help from a secretive violent anarchist group was planning a defense calling it all an internet fantasy before pleading guilty just before trial, court records show.
Plans for the defense of Ethan Phelan Melzer [were] revealed in court papers in the months before the Kentucky man abruptly pleaded guilty to charges Friday, eliminating the need for his July 5 trial in Manhattan federal court. Sentencing is set for Jan. 6. He could face up to 45 years in prison rather than the life sentence that a jury conviction could have brought.
Melzer, 24, was in Italy in October 2019 with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team when he communicated online with others prior to plotting an attack against his Army unit once it was redeployed in 2020 to guard an isolated and sensitive military installation, prosecutors said.
