Phone Lineman Offers Alibi For Merrell Bombing Suspects’ Defense Begins; Loren Berry’s Credibility Attacked

A telephone lineman spotted Verne Jay Merrell near Sandpoint last July 12 - less than an hour before a Spokane Valley bombing 75 miles away, jurors heard Monday.

And Robert Berry’s siblings testified that two days after last year’s April 1 bombing, Berry was with his family in Michigan - a 42-hour drive away.

Attorneys representing accused domestic terrorists Merrell, Berry and Charles Barbee kicked off their defense Monday with GTE lineman Jay Dennis, an acquaintance of Merrell’s.

Dennis told the federal jury in Spokane that he ran into Merrell along a North Idaho roadside that Friday in July, between 12:45 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Dennis said he recalled the day because he’d just finished an unusual repair job.

“I remember it was early afternoon,” he said.

Prosecutors contend Merrell was driving a white getaway van when masked men dropped a pipe bomb at the Valley’s Planned Parenthood clinic at 1:40 p.m. that day.

During cross-examination Monday, prosecutors pointed out that Dennis relied on work timecards to recall when he ran into Merrell. Dennis denied the cards are imprecise.

But he acknowledged that Merrell seemed jumpy during their July 12 talk.

“I kind of got the feeling that he was unsettled, that I’d spooked him or something,” Dennis said.

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

Prosecutors last week rested their case against the three North Idaho white separatists after 11 days of testimony from 81 witnesses.

One of those witnesses, Berry’s younger brother Loren, linked the suspects to weapons, clothing and a tote bag used during the July 12 robbery.

But Loren Berry’s younger brothers - Curtis, Clint and Vern - and sister Bonnie Johnson all testified Monday that Loren is a liar and an alcoholic who will say anything to stay out of trouble.

“He tells people what they want to hear, regardless of the truth,” Vern Berry testified.

“He’s lied to me time and time again,” Curtis Berry said.

Recalled to the witness stand by the defense, Loren Berry, 41, testified late Monday that he had lied to the FBI early in the investigation but that lying, for him, was unusual. In earlier testimony he admitted being an alcoholic.

Two of the Berry brothers also testified that Robert Berry met them in Michigan for his birthday on April 3 - two days after the first Valley bombing and bank robbery.

Clint Berry told the jury that he’d made the drive from North Idaho to Michigan several times. At top speed with no breaks, he testified, it took 42 hours.

Defense attorneys also quizzed FBI agent David Bedford about weapons, ammunition and explosives seized from the Sandpoint home of a man not charged in the case.

Bedford acknowledged agents searched the cabin of “Radio” Rick Glaese and found knit masks, goggles, a camouflage poncho, fuses and tiny homemade pipe bombs last October.

While similar items were believed to have been used during both bombings and robberies, authorities determined through interviews that Glaese was not a suspect, Bedford said.

Christopher Davidson Jr., the government’s star witness, was called back late Monday. Today, defense attorneys are expected to continue picking apart testimony from the military surplus dealer turned informant.

Robert Berry, Barbee and Merrell are charged with 12 felonies each and face up to $3 million in fines and life in prison if convicted. At least two of the suspects are expected to testify this week.

, DataTimes