Max Misch in a screenshot from a WCAX broadcast last year.
Max Misch, whose case is at the center of a constitutional battle over Vermont’s high-capacity magazine ban, says he’s been arrested again and is due in court Monday.
Misch, a white nationalist and online troll, said in an email late Friday afternoon to VTDigger that he had been arrested and charged with “contempt of court.” He added that he was scheduled to “see the judge” Monday in court.
Misch had been responding to a reporter’s request to interview him for a separate story.
He declined further comment, referring questions to the Bennington Police Department or the Bennington County state’s attorney office. Officials at those offices could not be reached early Friday evening for comment.
It’s unclear if bail was set and posted for the latest arrest, or whether Misch was released on a citation to appear in court. Defendants would generally be lodged on bail for more serious offenses.
Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan, whose office is prosecuting Misch on two misdemeanor charges that he illegally possessed high-capacity magazines, declined comment Friday evening.
Last month, Judge William Cohen denied a request by attorneys for Misch to dismiss the magazine charges against him. His attorneys had contended that limits set on the size of a magazine under a new law were unconstitutional.
The Attorney General’s Office, which is prosecuting the case, as well as Misch’s attorney had recently filed a joint motion seeking to have that ruling appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court.
The magazine charges against Misch were brought about a month after Donovan said he wouldn’t be bringing any charges against him, or anyone else, for racial harassment against former Rep. Kiah Morris.
It’s unclear whether the latest against Misch has any connection to the gun magazine case.
Morris, an African American Democrat from Bennington, resigned her House seat last year, saying she was a victim of racist threats and harassment. She had been the only black woman in Vermont’s Legislature.
Misch was identified as the person responsible, but Donovan said that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges against him, mainly due to free speech protections in the First Amendment.
It’s unclear what the “contempt of court of charges” against Misch relate to, though he had been released on conditions following his arrest on the magazine charges in February.
Those conditions include that he not possess any weapons and that he stay at least 300 feet away from Morris and her husband, James Lawton. He is also barred from leaving Bennington County.
Any allegations of violating any of his release conditions would result in a new charge against Misch and a court arraignment.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Max Misch says he’s facing new charge, due in court Monday.