Fbi Tries To Tie Suspect To Bomb Notes Notes Left At Crime Scenes Nearly Identical To Document Found On Merrell’s Computer

Threatening notes left at the scene of two Spokane Valley bombings are nearly identical to a document found on the hard drive of suspect Verne Jay Merrell’s home computer, FBI agents testified Monday.

The differences: an introduction, a few pronouns and an ending, FBI computer expert Richard Macken told the U.S. District Court jury.

“The text is identical,” Macken said.

But defense attorney Roger Peven said the differences could be crucial because Merrell, a Sandpoint resident with strong anti-government and white supremacist views, wrote for a newsletter that circulates to 5,000 Idaho readers.

A reader may have revised Merrell’s work and used it during the bombings, Peven suggested. Or someone could have drafted the document and transferred it to Merrell’s computer via a modem, the lawyer said.

Merrell, 51; Robert S. Berry, 42; and Charles H. Barbee, 45, are on trial, charged with bombing Valley offices of The Spokesman-Review, U.S. Bank and Planned Parenthood and twice robbing the same bank last April and July.

While several prosecution witnesses claim to have spotted Merrell at or near the scene of the crimes, the computer document is the strongest piece of physical evidence linking Merrell to the bombings.

Notes found after the explosions at the newspaper office and bank last April 1 made reference to white separatist Christian Identity beliefs. Copies of the same note later were found in a stolen getaway van which was rigged to explode.

“Flee you usurer from the face of our land and all that would not the Master should bring,” the notes read in part.

They begin with the phrase “Declare ye among the nations” and end with “Praise Yahweh.”

Macken said the document found on Merrell’s computer hard drive lacks only those two statements. But, Macken said, both phrases were found in other computer files and easily could have been “cut and pasted” to that document.

The body of the text varied slightly.

For example, documents found at the crime scenes read: “Oh you that dwell upon …” The document from Merrell’s computer reads: “Oh thou that dwells upon …”

Peven pointed out that a symbol found on the letters representing “Phineas” - a biblical hero who slayed an interracial couple - was not found in the search of Merrell’s computer.

But Macken testified that another computer file, under the misspelled heading “That Patirot Game” included the phrase “Perhaps it is time for Phineas to rise up again …”

Cross-examination of Macken resumes this morning.

Also Monday, FBI document examiner Elizabeth James testified she was “100 percent sure” several letters mailed to the bank, Planned Parenthood and the newspaper after the July 12 bombing were produced using an ink-jet printer.

Merrell owned such a printer, a Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 660C. But James couldn’t say for sure if the letters came from that particular printer.

FBI agent Christine Seifert told the jury Monday that two handwritten notes were found at Barbee’s home after the defendants were arrested in October.

The notes read, in part: “Dear Rosie: If you are reading this it’s because things have not gone well …”

The notes urge “Rosie” to meet Barbee in Colorado within 48 hours of getting his message and to bring food and ammunition.

Barbee, Berry and Merrell are charged with 12 felonies and face a mandatory life sentence and up to $3 million in fines if convicted.

The prosecution is expected to rest today. The jury will be sent home until March 24, when the defense will start its case.

, DataTimes