Members of the Hutaree Christian Militia are now on trial in Detroit.
The case has been underway for a couple of weeks, but the government has now begun playing undercover tapes that reveal exactly how this group, called Hutaree, planned to start its revolution.
David Stone Sr., accused leader of the Hutaree Militia, was recorded with a camera hidden by an FBI informant who had infiltrated the group in southern Michigan.
"I want to make sure you'll be here when the bullets start flying," Stone says on the tape.
Charged with Stone is Tom Piatek of Whiting, Ind.
"We've got Tom showing up from Indiana!" Stone is heard saying. "Yeah, Indiana! He's the heavy gun for the other team and he's gung-ho, yeah! I like this job."
Federal prosecutors say Piatek and other heavily armed members of this small militia group trained along Michigan back roads in 2008 for an assault on law enforcement.
Jurors heard on tape Hutaree members discuss starting their revolution by shooting and killing police officers, and then attacking their families.
Stone: "We'll go back to their houses and I'll burn their houses down, and if I kill their wives and children inside, well then so be it. You want to go after the younger crowd.
Hutaree member: Get that army of little kids man. Plus they're going to be rats on and tell everything that...
Stone: But do you think I would hesitate to shoot a child?
Hutaree member: No, not if they're...
Stone: If they're taking that chip, I won't hesitate. We have people in our unit who say I don't know if I could and do you know what I say, if you will not, then you have to step out of the way and I will take the shot."
The Indiana man and the Michigan defendants contend that the taped conversation was tough talk and the video nothing more than playing war games by plebs of a social club. They say they will try to establish that the mechanics of the group had no intention of doing harm to anyone.
