More Letter-Bomb Murder Indictments May Widen ’80 Case

More people may be indicted soon in connection with the fatal 1980 Manhattan Beach bombing in which militant Israeli activists Robert and Rochelle Manning were charged earlier this summer, according to documents filed recently in federal court here.

Robert Manning, who also is a suspect in the 1985 murder of Arab activist Alex Odeh in Santa Ana, is a fugitive in Israel. His wife is being held in Terminal Island Federal Prison.

According to papers filed last week by Alan Rubin, who is seeking to replace an assistant federal public defender as Rochelle Manning’s attorney, the prosecutor in the 1980 bombing case said recently that a new indictment will be filed soon, broadening the scope of the case.

Despite the charges against the Mannings, both one-time Jewish Defense League members, and a federal grand jury’s interest in at least half a dozen other present and former JDL members, those few authorities who will talk about the 1980 bombing say the motive was not political.

More Time May Be Needed

In seeking a delay in Rochelle Manning’s trial, currently scheduled for Aug. 23, Rubin quoted Stock as saying that more time may be needed by additional defendants in the case.

“(Stock) requested that I further inform the court that there may soon be a superseding indictment which adds additional defendants,” the papers submitted by Rubin said.

Rubin stated that Stock preferred a late trial date, around Nov. 1, because such a schedule would “avoid additional continuance requests from the other defendants who might be named in the superseding indictment.”

Assistant U.S. Atty. Nancy Wieben Stock, prosecutor in the case, confirmed the accuracy of Rubin’s account of her comments but declined to elaborate.

The 1980 bombing claimed the life of Patricia Wilkerson, a secretary at a newly formed computer sales firm in Manhattan Beach. She was killed when a disguised bomb that had been delivered by mail exploded. The package was addressed to the owner of the firm, Brenda Adams.

Fingerprints from both of the Mannings were found on the remains of the package containing the bomb and a letter accompanying it, according to U.S. Postal inspectors who investigated the case. No other aspects of the prosecution’s case have been revealed.

The Wilkerson murder does not fit the political pattern of other crimes in which Robert Manning, although not charged, has been named as a suspect. On the night before his death, Odeh had appeared on television calling Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat “a man of peace.” Manning was linked to three other 1985 crimes involving apparent Nazi and Arab targets.

While prosecutors have not revealed a motive in the Manhattan Beach case, friends and business associates of both Wilkerson and Adams have said neither was politically involved or active religiously. Wilkerson supported two children and a disabled husband before her death.

Rubin, along with co-counsel Michael Adelson, will seek permission at a hearing Tuesday to take over Rochelle Manning’s defense. Previously, assistant federal public defender John Martin had been appointed at taxpayer expense.

Asked about the amount and source of his payment in the case, Rubin declined comment.