Trial Set For Blogger Who Broadcast Police Standoff

Frank MacArthur, aka A.F. James MacArthur, the blogger who live streamed his standoff with Baltimore police last year, will go to trial in May.

MacArthur, 47, appeared in Baltimore Circuit Court for arraignment Monday and his trial date is scheduled to start 2 p.m., May 8.  He pleaded not guilty to charges of possessing an unregistered shotgun and resisting arrest.

MacArthur also asked that his bail be reset, but was told the arraignment was not the proper place for that request. He has been held without bail at the Baltimore City Detention Center since surrendering to police following a standoff outside his Waverly home on Dec. 1.

Police initially said that MacArthur was wanted for a probation violation. But MacArthur, who blogged as the Baltimore Spectator, refused to report to police during the week leading up to the standoff, and often posted on social media about his fears of being mistreated by police.  

Eventually, the messages started to concern police enough that they went to arrest him at his home in Waverly on Dec. 1, but had to call a SWAT team in, and a four hour long stand off ensued.

MacArthur, after broadcasting his conversation with a police negotiator, peacefully surrendered. Police allegedly found the unregistered sawed off shotgun in his home after the incident.   

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