Arizona lawyer’s office hacking causes Wieambilla trial delay
The trial of an American man linked to the Wieambilla murders has been delayed by months after his lawyer’s computer system was infiltrated by hackers.
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The trial of an American man linked to the Wieambilla murders has been delayed by months after his lawyer’s computer system was infiltrated by hackers.
The Federal Public Defender’s office in Arizona was due to represent Donald Day at a trial starting next week over allegations he made interstate threats against law enforcement in response to the Queensland massacre.
But his lawyers have now been granted a months-long adjournment after their office was targeted by hackers.
“On March 30, 2025, the Federal Public Defender’s Office in the District of Arizona discovered a ransomware and data exfiltration event affecting local file storage and data backup systems on its network,” Day’s lawyers wrote to the United States District Court.
“At this time, the office has no access to its network and, accordingly, staff are limited in the work they can do.”
The US court found that failing to grant the adjournment would deny Day’s lawyers the reasonable time necessary to prepare his case.
The trial, which had been due to start on April 22, has now been pushed back to September 15.
Day came to the attention of law enforcement after it was discovered he had been in regular contact with Queensland conspiracy theorists Gareth, Nathaniel and Stacey Train who murdered their neighbour and two police officers in 2022.
The Trains were killed in a shootout with police.
An inquest heard the trio subscribed to premillennialism and the belief Jesus would return after a period of widespread destruction.
After killing constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold and neighbour Alan Dare, the Trains posted a video online saying “they came to kill us, and we killed them. If you don’t defend yourself against these devils and demons, you’re a coward”.
Police allege Day posted a video in response making comments including that: “the devils come for us, they f***ing die. It’s just that simple. We are free people, we are owned by no one”.
The United States government in its case against Day allege that statement constituted a threat against any law enforcement official who attended his residence which was equipped with a sniper hide and gun range.
In documents tendered to the court ahead of Day’s trial, FBI agents alleged the Arizona man had spoken of his love and respect for the Train family, and that he said he had hoped they would come to live with him in the United States.
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Originally published as Arizona lawyer’s office hacking causes Wieambilla trial delay
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