Terrorism Trial Begins Jury Selection Begins Today For Three North Idaho Men Accused Of Bombings And Bank Robberies
Three men accused of domestic terrorism in last year’s Spokane Valley bombings and bank robberies go on trial today under tight security.
Jury selection in U.S. District Court in Spokane is expected to take a couple of days.
Authorities say the crimes committed by Charles H. Barbee, Verne Jay Merrell and Robert S. Berry were motivated by their extremist religious and political beliefs.
Defense attorneys say they are handicapped by a lack of preparation time, but each has clients eager to go to trial. They have been in jail without bond since their arrests Oct. 8 near Yakima.
Merrell’s lawyer, Aaron Lowe, is further handicapped in preparing an adequate defense because his client won’t talk or meet with him at the jail.
“He’s still refusing to talk with me for the most part,” Lowe said Friday.
The defense attorney said he assumes Merrell is uncooperative “because of his distrust of the whole system, and I’m a court-appointed (lawyer).”
Court officials have asked 82 prospective jurors from throughout Eastern Washington to show up at midday for jury questioning, set to begin at 1:30. A second batch of 30 is set to show up Tuesday.
Barbee, who turned 45 in jail on Sunday, is represented by federal defender Roger Peven, who spent the weekend pouring over 700 pages of government documents released to the defense Friday.
“Sure, I’d like more time,” Peven said, but Barbee is eager for the trial to start.
“It’s been very difficult for him, sitting in jail,” Peven said.
Defense attorney John Rodgers, who represents Berry, said his client, too, is eager for the trial to start.
“My client is an earnest man who is demonstrating remarkable good will under the circumstances,” Rodgers said. “He sure as hell doesn’t want another delay.”
If convicted of 12 federal counts, the defendants will spend the rest of their lives in prison.
The FBI and Justice Department say the Sandpoint men are part of a small group of militia terrorists who funded their anti-government war by robbing banks.
There were no injuries, but the three Valley bombings last April 1 and July 12 caused more than $100,000 in damage. At least one other suspect is being sought.
Barbee, Merrell and Berry deny any involvement in the crimes and say they will present alibi evidence and witnesses to prove they weren’t in Spokane at the time.
They call themselves “ambassadors from the kingdom of Yahweh” - a reference to their underlying religious views that white people are the true Israelites. They failed to get the charges dismissed on grounds of “diplomatic immunity.”
Three federal prosecutors, backed by a special team of FBI investigators, are handling the case.
The prosecution’s case will center on a former Coeur d’Alene-area military surplus dealer who collected a $130,000 reward for providing the FBI with information last August that led to the suspects’ arrest.
The prosecutors and U.S. Attorney Jim Connelly are scrupulously avoiding public comment, other than to say they’re ready to call more than 100 witnesses and introduce piles of evidence.
The suspects are accused of bombing The Spokesman-Review’s Valley office on April 1, moments before robbing a nearby U.S. Bank branch. A second bomb was detonated there.
Notes from a shadowy, antiSemitic extremist group known as the Phineas Priesthood were left at the newspaper office and the bank.
The defendants also are accused of the July 12 bombing at the Planned Parenthood clinic in the Valley, and the robbery of the same bank, minutes later.
Stolen camper-style vans were used for successful getaways following both robberies. But incendiary devices left behind in the abandoned vehicles failed to ignite, giving investigators significant physical evidence expected to be produced during the trial.
The terrorism trial will be the first of its kind in Spokane, and one of only a handful of cases to be prosecuted in the United States.
Security will be heightened at the federal courthouse. A special team of deputy U.S. marshals has been assigned to the case.
The heavily armed team will transport the defendants from the Spokane County Jail to the U.S. Court House, accompanied by an extraordinary police escort.
In the courtroom of Chief Judge Frem Nielsen, a video camera hookup has been wired. The camera will be quickly installed if any of the defendants become disruptive and are removed to a holding cell, where they could watch the proceedings on a monitor.
A new airport-style X-ray machine has been added outside the courtroom, and extra court security officers and deputy marshals are expected to be on hand.
The judge will hear last-minute legal arguments this morning.
On Friday, Nielsen met secretly with attorneys to hear defense attorneys challenge the credibility of FBI laboratory experts. The proceeding was conducted privately because it touches on information related to a current investigation of alleged irregularities at the lab.
If Lowe had been successful with that request, the trial could have been delayed again.
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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: BEEFED-UP SECURITY A heavily armed team of deputy U.S. marshals will transport the defendants. An X-ray machine has been added outside the courtroom, and extra officers and deputy marshals are expected to be on hand.