Three members of the Zizians group were granted permission to work together on their defense ahead of an upcoming Maryland trial, a judge said at a hearing in Allegany County Circuit Court on Friday.
The defendants — Jack LaSota, Michelle Zajko and Daniel Blank — face charges in Maryland that include trespassing, weapons and drug counts. According to the Associated Press, the hearing in Cumberland was set to address the trio’s motions to dismiss the charges and trial logistics for a trial that begins Feb. 9.
LaSota, Zajko and Blank were arrested in February after a property owner told authorities he found them living in box trucks on his land in Frostburg, Maryland. The AP reported that the prosecutor and defense discussed whether the three should be able to coordinate their case work.
On LaSota’s way into the courthouse, he accused prosecutors of pressuring the trio to commit perjury by accepting plea deals and said, “They’re violating our speedy trial rights.” The AP reported that much of the agenda was postponed until Jan. 30 after Zajko indicated a desire to fire her attorney.
Earlier, Judge Michael Twigg agreed to allow the trio to work together on their defense. The AP said that since their arrest, LaSota and Blank had been allowed to meet, but Zajko was kept apart, which she described as “absurdly difficult circumstances.” During Friday’s hearing, the prosecutor told the judge he had reason to believe the three had already been communicating among themselves.
When the prosecutor’s comments prompted questions about communication, LaSota interjected, “In the car ride here!” The AP also reported that LaSota said, “We should be able to talk to each other without being recorded and without fear of our notes being intercepted.” Zajko followed with “We’re adults. We have work to do, and we want to do our work,” the AP reported.
At one point, all three spoke in support of each other. The AP reported that LaSota said, “I repudiate any notion of protecting me from our codefendants.” Zajko responded, “I do, too,” and Blank said, “As do I.”
The AP said authorities have described LaSota, known as Ziz, as the apparent leader of an “extremist group.” Since 2022, the AP reported, investigators have tied the group to multiple deaths across the U.S., including a death of one of their own during an attack on a California landlord, the landlord’s subsequent killing, the deaths of Zajko’s parents in Pennsylvania, and a highway shootout in Vermont that left another member and a U.S. Border Patrol agent dead.
The AP reported that prosecutors in Vermont are seeking the death penalty against Teresa Youngblut, who has pleaded not guilty to murder for her alleged involvement in that shootout. The AP said prosecutors have accused Youngblut of opening fire on border agents after a hotel employee reported seeing Youngblut carrying a gun and both Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt wearing black tactical gear. The AP reported that an agent fired back, killing Bauckholt and wounding Youngblut.
The AP also reported that Zajko was charged in Vermont with lying on her application to buy the gun used to kill Border Patrol agent David Maland in January 2025, and that LaSota faces separate federal charges of being an armed fugitive. The AP said two other members of the Zizians group are awaiting trial in connection with the 2022 attack on the landlord in California.
The AP story included a correction, saying the hotel employee reportedly saw one gun, not two.