Ten Plead Innocent

Fri., Nov. 22, 1996

Compiled From Wire Services

Ten of 11 defendants in a federal pipe-bomb conspiracy case pleaded innocent Thursday to charges leveled last week in a new 14-count indictment.

All defendants except Theodore R. Carter pleaded innocent Thursday before Magistrate Philip Sweigert, said spokeswoman Kate Greenquist in the U.S. attorney’s office. Carter, 38, who faces a conspiracy charge, had difficulty getting to court from his home in Bellingham and his arraignment was postponed to an undetermined future date.

Also Thursday, the trial date was pushed back a week to Jan. 13 before U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, Greenquist said.

The new 14-count indictment naming 11 defendants replaced a six-count indictment issued in August against nine people.

The new documents says that on Sept. 6, 1995, members of the Washington State Militia engaged in target practice using silhouettes of FBI and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents and the U.S. president.

The anti-government activists were arrested in Bellingham, Seattle and Tukwila in a late-July sweep.

Carter, the Pitners, Judy Kirk and Caitlin Hansen have been released pending trial, Greenquist said. The others remain in federal custody.

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