Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette U.S. Courthouse in Marquette

MARQUETTE — The case of a Hancock man charged with spraying anti-Semitic graffiti on Temple Jacob in Hancock will head to the jury Thursday.

The prosecution and defense both rested their cases in the trial of Nathan Weeden, which concluded its third day Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Marquette.

Weeden, 23, allegedly did the spraypainting as part of Operation Kristallnacht, a campaign organized by white supremacist group The Base. The spraying took place overnight Sept. 20, 2019.

Weeden faces two charges — conspiracy against rights, and damage to religious property. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

David Holden, then president of Temple Jacob, testified Wednesday he had been notified by police overnight.

Around 20 people helped the temple scrub the graffiti off later that day. While the support was encouraging, he said it was shameful that it needed to happen.

“Ultimately, the idea that people who want to do us harm are telling us they know who we are, that’s a scary thought,” said Holden, who is now vice president at Temple Jacob.

Holden had described the damage to the building as “simple and superficial and temporary” in a Facebook post after the event, which he said was meant to inspire people to come back and project strength to the community. However, the act has led to permanent changes at the synagogue to help members feel safe.

Members had started debating new measures after the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, where an anti-Semitic terrorist attack killed 11 people in Pittsburgh in 2018.

“You want to have the doors open, be a welcoming community,” Holden said. “There are times of year where you’re commanded to open your doors. After this, there was no debate.”

Temple Jacob installed new security cameras on each wall that had been marked by graffiti. Their main door is closed; instead, there’s a steel fire door that is opened when people known to the temple leaders message ahead that they will be coming. The temple now also stocks first-aid measures, such as tourniquets.

Through a grant, they were also able to fund police protection during their Holy Days services shortly after the vandalism, and in subsequent years.

Holden also testified about a recruiting sticker from The Base that had been placed on the second-floor bathroom at the Michigan Technological University library days after the Temple Jacob incident. The bathroom is near his office, where he works as manager of innovation and technology.

The morning began with more testimony from Aaron Erkkinen, a special agent from the FBI’s Detroit office.

Erkkinen had interviewed Weeden after he sent a letter to an FBI agent offering to become a confidential informant. He said he would not provide any information regarding past activities or any involvement he may have had.

Erkkinen said he had been hopeful for Weeden’s cooperation after the request, the only such letter he can recall receiving in nine years as an agent. The 70-minute interview was conducted at the Kestner Waterfront Park pavilion in September 2021. Weeden started as congenial, then became “cagey,” as he had been during an earlier interview, Erkkinen said.

“Your reluctance to share I’m not sure is going to benefit you in ways you think it might,” an agent said on a tape of the encounter.

“Well, in the game of poker, it’s not very wise for a man to show his hand to another, I don’t suppose,” Weeden replied.

Weeden asked about what sentences had been given to two Base members connected with the operation, Youssef Barasneh and Richard Tobin.

Barasneh pleaded guilty and has yet to be sentenced; he testified for the prosecution Tuesday in what he said was partially motivated by a desire for a reduced sentence. Tobin, who directed the campaign, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison in 2021.

Weeden had been concerned about the impact of a confession on his family and fiancee, as well as his future job prospects as an engineer, Erkkinen said.

Weeden’s attorney, Heath Lynch, suggested the Nazi and far-right books and paraphernalia belonging to Weeden was only indicative of a larger interest in history. He pointed to reading material such as Catholic doctrine and multiple Bibles also on his shelf. Alongside Nazi paraphernalia, he also had coins of Donald Trump and one commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War I.

“My impression was that the Nazi stuff was pretty important to him,” Erkkinen said. “A lot of people collect a lot of things, but not many people collect Nazi memorabilia in my experience.”

Lynch also sought information about the lack of security footage of Weeden from that night.

After Erkkinen compared the search to a “needle in a haystack” given the amount of traffic across the bridge, Lynch said it should have been easier to spot Weeden.

“It’s just a lot easier to get security footage of a person on foot than a person who’s in a car going at a high rate of speed,” he said.

Prosecutors pointed to an online chat Weeden had been part of that discussed planning the event and where Weeden later took credit. While he had turned off location detection on his phone, his phone’s health app had recorded more than 5,000 steps during that overnight period — roughly the amount needed for a round trip between where he lived on Vivian Street and Temple Jacob.

In the defense case, Lynch tried to poke holes in the prosecution theory, first pointing to the lack of surveillance footage and then offering a possible alternate whereabouts for Weeden.

The first of the defense’s two witnesses was private investigator Darren Foulker of Delta Force, P.I., a Gladstone-based investigation firm. He had been tasked with finding the sites of potential security cameras that would have been in place along Weeden’s potential routes.

In addition to cameras on the Portage Lake Lift Bridge, the only pedestrian route between Houghton and Hancock, he spotted cameras at several other sites nearby, including the Houghton City Center, the Lakeshore Building and Krist Oil.

While he couldn’t verify the distance of the camera, he said based on angle at least some of them would have provided a view of a pedestrian walking by.

The defense also called someone who could place Weeden elsewhere on the night of the vandalism, though not necessarily at the exact time.

Father Dustin Larson had been associate pastor of St. Albert the Great, the Michigan Technological University parish where Weeden had been a member.

Larson had known Weeden since the previous year, when Weeden had first asked about information about becoming Catholic. Weeden later successfully joined the church.

Larson said he had been unaware of Weeden’s political views.

That night, the church had sponsored a barn dance at the Centennial Park pavilion in Chassell that ran from 8 p.m. until midnight, covering part of the period where prosecutors say Weeden was undertaking the Temple Jacob spraypainting.

Looking at a picture taken the night of the event, Larson identified Weeden alongside his then-fiancee, now wife. They were standing near a petting zoo outside the event; while the time was not specific, it was still daylight.

“Do you know what time they arrived or left?” Lynch asked.

“No,” Larson said.

After the defense rested Wednesday, Judge Robert Jonker read a series of jury instructions.

The trial will resume potentially for its final day at 8:30 a.m. with a list of facts both sides stipulate to be true. Closing arguments will follow before the case goes to the jury for deliberation.