Anti-Government Activists Denied Bail Members Of Group May Be Linked To Spokane Bombings, Bank Robberies

FOR THE RECORD: August 9, 1996 The Associated Press incorrectly reported charges against Gary Marvin Kuehnoel, 48, of Bellingham. Kuehnoel is accused of conspiring to make and possess explosive devices and of possessing and transfering two maching guns.

A federal judge Thursday denied bail for three of the eight anti-government activists arrested last weekend on charges they were conspiring to build pipe bombs for an expected confrontation with the United Nations or the U.S. government.

U.S. Magistrate David E. Wilson conceded that John Irvin Pitner, Frederick Benjamin Fisher and Richard Frank Burton had strong ties to the area.

But there is no peaceful use for a pipe bomb, he said, and courts have ruled that “conspiracy to commit a crime of violence is a crime of violence.”

Detention hearings for the five other defendants are scheduled for Monday before Magistrate Philip Sweigert. A preliminary hearing for all eight is set for next Thursday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Dohrmann told Wilson the three men posed a danger to the community and have long been prepared to flee authority.

As leader of the Washington State Militia over the past two years, Pitner, 45, of Deming, about 100 miles north of here, had told media representatives he sought change through peaceful means, Dohrmann said.

Lawyers for the trio argued that they were not charged with manufacturing pipe bombs or other explosive devices, as are the five others accused in the case.

“It’s not a crime to listen to someone else describe how to build a bomb,” said Pitner’s lawyer, Jim Lobsenz.

All eight defendants are accused of conspiring to make and possess explosive devices. Five also are charged with actually making pipe bombs, and one man - Marlin Lane Mack - also is accused of possession and transfer of a machine gun.

Pitner, Fisher and two other defendants - Mack, 24, and Gary Marvin Kuehnoel, 48, both of Bellingham - have been identified by the government as members of the Washington State Militia.

Burton and the other three - Seattle couple John Lloyd Kirk, 56, and Judy Carol Kirk, 54, and William Smith, 60, of Seattle - were members of a Seattle-area group referred to by Pitner as “freemen,” according to the federal complaint.

A possible link to recent bombings and bank robberies in the Spokane area remains under investigation, said Burdena Pasenelli, in charge of the Seattle FBI office.