This story by Teresa McMinn was first published in the Cumberland Times-News on July 1.
CUMBERLAND, MD — Escorted by sheriff deputies, Jack LaSota used her restrained hands to carry a roughly two-foot stack of files and papers as she entered the courtroom. She sat at a table with her codefendants Michelle Zajko and Daniel Blank, and each of their attorneys.
LaSota, Zajko and Blank on Tuesday made initial appearances before Allegany County Circuit Court Judge Michael Twigg for a variety of recent charges, including misdemeanor gun and felony drug offenses, that stem from their February arrests on private property in Frostburg. Individually, each said they are not guilty of the crimes, but added they want to fight their legal battles as a team in a joint and jury trial.
“We’ve never had the opportunity for our clients to discuss these issues together,” Blank’s attorney Rebecca Lechliter said.
At her request, Twigg agreed to clear the courtroom for the defendants and their lawyers to strategize. Roughly 35 minutes later, the court reopened.
LaSota’s attorney, Elizabeth Lamm, requested the hearing be tabled until next week when her co-counsel David Schram, who was absent, is available and can provide input about individual versus joint trials. Twigg agreed and set 1:15 p.m. Tuesday for the continuation. Lechliter complained that the state has withheld information and evidence.
“I’m concerned about the way this case is dragging on,” she said and added it began with misdemeanor trespassing and has grown to include felony narcotics charges.
LaSota, Zajko and Blank are linked to a group known as the Zizians tied to violence in multiple states. Court records on Tuesday showed LaSota faces 12 charges, Zajko 17, and Blank 15, in Allegany County. Possible penalties for the various charges range from three months to 20 years of incarceration, plus fines.
The defendants need to decide how to pursue their cases “sooner rather than later,” Allegany County State’s Attorney James Elliott said and added a joint trial would last at least five days. He said his office is preparing documents to share with defense attorneys.
Zajko also faces a federal charge in Vermont for allegedly providing a gun used in a fatal shootout that left a U.S. border patrol agent dead earlier this year, according to VTDigger. Zajko has not appeared in court in Vermont to face that charge.
LaSota, who blogged under the name “Ziz,” was federally indicted last month in Maryland charged as an armed fugitive related to the Frostburg arrest.
On Tuesday, Zajko, whose brown curly hair marked time passed since a February mugshot depicted her crew cut, read from handwritten notes.
“I’m not a drug trafficker … never sold a drug in my life,” she said, raising her voice at times. “My friends and I are being held captive here,” Zajko said.
“What is happening in this courtroom won’t be forgotten,” she said. “This prosecution is malicious.”
