The Nation - News from Nov. 29, 1988

Lawyers for a suspected Japanese terrorist offered to admit that he carried three homemade pipe bombs in his car on the New Jersey Turnpike, saying they want to avoid a “show trial.” But Yu Kikumura’s right to appeal several pretrial decisions must be preserved, lawyer William M. Kunstler said in Newark, N.J., where U.S. District Judge Alfred J. Lechner Jr. has ruled that Kikumura’s car was searched legally by a state trooper who found the explosives April 12. Kunstler and his partner, Ronald Kuby, made their proposal after Lechner found that Kikumura’s rights were not violated by taping of his telephone calls at a federal lockup in Manhattan. Kunstler said he was willing to stipulate all the facts in the 12-count indictment charging Kikumura, 36, with possession of explosives and use of a fraudulent visa. Prosecutors said they would consider the proposal.