LAS VEGAS (AP) — A lawyer entered a plea of not guilty Monday to a federal ammunition-manufacturing charge in Las Vegas on behalf of an Arizona man who has acknowledged selling bullets to the gunman in the deadliest mass shooting in the nation’s modern history.
FILE – In this Feb. 2, 2018, file photo, Douglas Haig takes questions from reporters at a news conference in Chandler, Ariz. Haig, who has acknowledged selling ammunition to the gunman in the deadliest mass shooting in the nation’s modern history, is due for arraignment Monday, Sept. 10, 2018, in federal court in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Brian Skoloff, File)
Defendant Douglas Haig’s attendance was waived while his attorney, Marc Victor, appeared before a U.S. District Court magistrate judge who set an Oct. 29 trial date in Las Vegas.
Haig, 55, an aerospace engineer who for decades had a side business selling ammunition from his home in Mesa, Arizona, was at work on Monday, Victor said outside court. Haig has since closed his ammunition business.
Haig isn’t charged in the Oct. 1 shooting and remains free under federal supervision after appearing several times in federal court in Phoenix.
He is accused of illegally making tracer and armor-piercing bullets like those found in a hotel suite from which Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock shot into an outdoor concert crowd. Fifty-eight people died and hundreds were injured before Paddock killed himself.
Police and the FBI say Paddock was the only shooter and the attack from the Mandalay Bay hotel didn’t involve a conspiracy or terrorism.
Prosecutors have said Haig’s fingerprints were found on unfired reloaded .308-caliber bullets found inside Paddock’s hotel room, where police said an address on a box led them to Haig.
Authorities previously said that armor-piercing ammunition recovered inside Paddock’s room had tool marks consistent with Haig’s reloading equipment.
Haig is prohibited from having guns, ammunition or manufacturing components and materials pending trial. Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen on Monday agreed to prosecutor Patrick Burns’ request to prohibit Haig from visiting gun shops or attending gun shows.
The judge declined as too restrictive Burns’ request that Haig be prohibited from viewing weapon and gun broker internet websites.
By KEN RITTER
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