Agents Testify For Kehoe Say Cheyne Kehoe Helped Authorities Find Fugitive Brother

Cheyne Kehoe, accused of trying to kill two Ohio police officers during a videotaped shootout, cooperated with federal authorities who indicted his brother in Arkansas, officials testified in court Friday.

FBI agent Paul Kardish and Paula Casey, a U.S. attorney in Little Rock, Ark., testified as defense witnesses at Kehoe’s trial on charges of attempted murder from his gun battle in Wilmington on Feb. 15.

Kardish and Casey testified that Kehoe was cooperative and provided useful information for the indictment last month of Chevie Kehoe in Little Rock. A federal grand jury there indicted Chevie Kehoe and two other men charged with planning to revolt against the U.S. government and to create the Aryan Peoples Republic, where citizenship would be limited to certain whites.

Both brothers are from Colville, Wash. Cheyne Kehoe has pleaded innocent to charges of attempted murder, felonious assault and carrying a concealed weapon. If convicted, he could face 28 years in prison.

Chevie Kehoe is in jail awaiting a separate trial on Feb. 23 in the same court on similar charges.

Cheyne Kehoe surrendered in Washington state in June and told authorities where to find his brother in Utah.

The trial was recessed Friday evening and was to continue this morning.

During a lunch recess Friday, Judge William McCracken permitted the Clinton County Common Pleas Court jury to examine rifles, handguns and ammunition that police said were confiscated from Kehoe’s 1977 Chevrolet Suburban.

Police alleged that the brothers had been riding in the vehicle when they fired at the officers during the videotaped shootout and in another shootout a few minutes later. The officers escaped injury.

Cheyne Kehoe could have fired the first shots at police from inside his car, even though police later found no bullet casings inside the car, said Sgt. Robert Johnson, an investigator with the State Highway Patrol.

Johnson helped prosecutors conduct a frame-by-frame analysis of the videotape for the jury, pointing out puffs of smoke and shell casings from guns used in the exchange.

State Trooper John Harold Harker testified Thursday that when he approached the Kehoes’ vehicle after pulling them over for a traffic stop, Harker heard shots and broken glass hit his shoulder, then saw the passenger - since identified as Cheyne Kehoe - pointing a handgun at him.