9 Freeman Members Guilty After Retrial

Leaders of the anti-government Montana Freemen were convicted in Billings, Mont., of bank and mail fraud. The jury deliberated for two days after the three-week retrial. An earlier trial, which ran seven weeks, ended with the jury deadlocked on half the charges. Of the 10 people on trial, nine were convicted and face sentencing in March. Among them are Rodney Skurdal and Daniel Petersen Jr. Skurdal was accused of writing millions of dollars in bogus checks on a fraudulent bank account. Petersen and his wife, Cherlyn, were convicted of depositing bogus checks. Federal prosecutors alleged the Freemen cheated and deceived banks on a massive scale. Federal agents arrested the Freemen in 1996, after an 81-day standoff.