By: Rod Swift
Re: More Christanic Terror 2

Not only do these kooks (on trial last week) think that the judge
in their case was "in violation of the commandments of Yahweh!" but
also that the US official seal is a "pagan image".

Note that they're charged with bombing a newspaper office *and* an
abortion clinic.  How typical.

Laugh away, kids.  These three's three of theirs! :)

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05:53 PM ET 03/02/97

Trial to begin for 3 in Washington state bombings

            By Bill Stimson

            SPOKANE, Wash. (Reuter) - Three white supremacists accused
of carrying out a pair of pipe bombings and bank robberies go on
trial Monday in a case that could be complicated by the
defendants' refusal to recognize the court.

            Charles Barbee, 44, Robert Berry, 42, and Jay Merrell, 50,
all of the Sandpoint, Idaho, area, are charged with robbing the
same Spokane bank branch twice last year, once April 1 and then
again July 12.

            They also are charged with bombing a newspaper office before
the first robbery and a Planned Parenthood office before the
second.

            The bombings, which caused no injuries, were presumed to be
diversionary tactics, although FBI officials said the bomb at
the Planned Parenthood office was powerful enough to kill if
anyone had been in the building.

            At preliminary hearings, the three men have sometimes
refused to stand for the ceremonial entrance of the judge, to
answer questions about their legal representation or to have
their photographs taken by law enforcement officials.

            At one hearing Merrell shouted at U.S. District Judge Frem
Nielsen, ``You're in violation of the commandments of Yahweh!''

            Yahweh is an ancient Hebrew term for God frequently used by
white supremacists.

            Refusing to answer Nielsen's questions about whether he
accepted appointed legal counsel, Merrell pointed to the United
States seal on the wall of the courtroom and said, ``These are
pagan images.''

            Nielsen authorized federal officials to use ``reasonable
force'' to take the defendants' photographs.

            Prosecutors are expected to argue during the trial that the
three men were motivated to carry out the attacks by their
belief in a white supremacist religion known as Christian
identity.

            Barbee, Berry and Merrell were arrested Oct. 8 near Yakima,
Wash., by a swarm of federal agents who had been following them
as they drove from Portland, Ore.

            The three men allegedly had approached a Portland bank with
the intention of robbing it but found the doors locked because
authorities had been one step ahead.

            Federal agents said they found fragmentation grenades,
loaded guns and bomb-making ingredients in the men's vehicle.
The suspects have been held without bail in Spokane.

            Prosecutors are expected to present evidence found at the
men's homes, including masks and ski goggles like those used by
the bank robbers and ingredients like those used in the
bombings.

            Adding interest to the case is the fact that FBI officials
are investigating whether the men may have been involved in the
bombing of Atlanta's Centennial Park during last year's
Olympics.
            That July 27 bombing killed two people and injured 111.
         ^REUTER@

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09:59 PM ET 03/04/97

Prosecutors say alleged bombers motivated by beliefs


            SPOKANE, Wash. (Reuter) - Federal prosecutors Tuesday
accused three Idaho men of carrying out a pair of bombings and
bank robberies in an alleged effort to punish the bank for its
''godless usury.''

            In opening arguments of a trial expected to take up to six
weeks, U.S. Attorney Stephanie Lister said Verne Merrell,
Charles Barbee and Robert Berry held right-wing political
beliefs and had talked freely of the need to punish U.S. Bank
for the supposed usury.

            She also said she would produce one witness who could
identify Merrell as the driver of a van used in a bombing of a
Spokane area newspaper office April 1 that preceded a robbery
and bombing of a nearby U.S. Bank branch.

            The same bank branch was robbed July 12 shortly after a
Planned Parenthood office was bombed.

            The men were arrested Oct. 8 as they were returning to
Spokane from Portland, Ore., where they allegedly were foiled in
their attempt to rob another U.S. Bank branch.

            Defense attorneys acknowledged in their opening statements
that the men were in possession of stolen vehicles and illegal
weapons, including grenades and machine guns, when they were
arrested.

            But the attorneys denied their clients had taken part in the
bombings and robberies.

            Defense attorney John Rodgers said his client, Berry, had
an ``almost comical devotion to military exercises'' and
fascination with military equipment.

            He and the others opened secret bank accounts and stole
vehicles in the belief that they need to defend themselves
against federal agencies supposedly ``waging a war against the
men and women of this country,'' Rogers said.

            Another defense attorney, Roger Peven, said his client,
Barbee, had been traumatized by the 1993 federal assault on the
Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, that killed some 80
people.

            Prosecutors said the vehicles the three men were driving
when arrested were a ``recipe for a robbery'' which included a
check-off list that included ``escape routes'' and ``emergency
phone numbers.''

 ^REUTER@
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