Domestic Terrorism At Heart Of Bombing Fbi Seeks Delay In Getting Indictments, Citing Case’s Complexity

Acknowledging for the first time that they’re investigating domestic terrorism, federal prosecutors want a two-month delay in seeking indictments against three men accused of the Spokane Valley bombings and bank robberies.

The FBI and its scientific laboratory are swamped with not only the complexity of the Spokane case, but other high-profile investigations related to terrorism, prosecutors say.

If the delay is granted at a hearing Friday in U.S. District Court, the trial of the trio won’t be held until mid-March at the earliest.

A grand jury would be asked to return indictments after secretly hearing evidence in the case in early January.

The delay is being sought because of the “extensive scope” of the investigation that led to the Oct. 8 arrests of Charles Barbee, Robert Berry and Verne Jay Merrell, all of Sandpoint.

Investigators had not completed their investigation on Oct. 8, but were “forced to arrest the defendants to protect the safety of the community,” court documents say.

The suspects are charged with April 1 and July 12 robberies of the same U.S. Bank branch, and three bombings on the same days.

“They constituted unprecedented acts of domestic terrorism in this area,” federal prosecutors Tom Rice and Stephanie Lister said in court documents filed Wednesday.

“While the investigation has been intense and vigorous, much remains to be done,” the federal prosecutors said.

One of the defense attorneys said he’ll resist any delay.

Attorney Aaron Lowe, who represents Merrell, said the jailed defendants have a right to stand trial within 70 days of their arrests.

“It’s a violation of their constitutional rights as well as their speedy trial rights,” Lowe said of the proposed delay.

Defense attorneys Roger Peven, who represents Barbee, and John Rodgers, representing Berry, couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.

U.S. Magistrate Cynthia Imbrogno will hear arguments Friday afternoon. Her decision could be appealed by either side.

Thousands of pieces of evidence and documents need to be analyzed and scientifically tested “in order to establish that the bombings and bank robberies were part of the same conspiracy,” the prosecutors said in court documents.

Evidence testing at the FBI lab is being slowed because the facility is “inundated with work,” according to the documents.

FBI agent David Bedford said in an affidavit that the Spokane investigation is stacked behind evidence collected in the Oklahoma City bombing, the TWA Flight 800 crash, the Olympics bombing, the Montana freemen investigation and the lab’s normal caseload.

, DataTimes