CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) — 3 members The Jizz people are A cult-like group responsible for the deaths of six people across the United States appeared in a Maryland courtroom Friday for a hearing ahead of a trial on trespassing, weapons and drug charges.

Jack Lasota, Michelle Zaiko, and Daniel Blank are among a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists brought together by their radical beliefs about veganism, gender identity, and artificial intelligence.

Authorities said Lasota, a transgender woman known as Ziz, was the apparent leader of an “extremist group.” Since 2022, Zizians have been linked to their own deaths in an attack on a homeowner in California, the subsequent murder of the homeowner, the deaths of Zaziko’s parents in Pennsylvania, and the deaths of another service member and a Border Patrol agent in a highway shootout in Vermont.

Lasota, Zajiko and Blank were arrested in February after a property owner said they found them living in a box truck on their property in Frostburg, Maryland. Zajko was charged in Vermont with lying on an application to purchase the gun used to kill Agent David Marando in January 2025, while Lasota faces separate federal charges as an armed fugitive.

On her way to court on Friday, Lasota accused prosecutors of pressuring the three men to give perjury in their plea deals, saying, “They are violating our right to a speedy trial.” Friday’s hearing included motions by the three to dismiss the charges, along with preparations for the Feb. 9 trial.

Prosecutors seek the death penalty for Zizian members in Vermont case Teresa Youngblut He has pleaded not guilty to murder charges for his alleged involvement in the shootout. She was initially charged with a minor crime, but President Donald Trump’s administration indicated early on that she could face more serious charges as part of further pursuit. Federal execution.

At the time of the shooting, authorities had been monitoring Youngblut and his companion, Felix Buckholt, for several days after a hotel employee in Vermont reported seeing them carrying guns and wearing black tactical gear. She is accused of firing at a border agent who stopped her car on Interstate 91. The personnel returned fire, killing Bauckholt and injuring Youngblut.

Two other members of the Gigians group are awaiting trial in connection with a 2022 attack on a homeowner in California that left another member dead. Zajko was named a person of interest after the deaths of his parents later that year, and another member of the group was also charged with murdering his homeowner three days before the Vermont shooting.

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Roemer reported from Concord, New Hampshire.

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