3 Will Plead Guilty in Bombing at Capitol; 3 Dropped From Case

Three radical leftists have agreed to plead guilty in bombings at the U.S. Capitol and seven other places, and the government has said it will drop all charges against three other defendants.

Laura J. Whitehorn, Linda S. Evans and Marilyn J. Buck are to plead guilty Friday in U.S. District Court of conspiring to set off the eight bombs, which damaged property but caused no bodily harm, according to papers filed in federal court.

The Nov. 7, 1983, blast at the Capitol blew a hole in a wall outside the Senate chambers, damaged five paintings and knocked an office door off its hinges.

As part of the plea bargain, government prosecutors have agreed to drop bombing charges against three other members of the leftist group who are already serving prison sentences for possession of explosives.

The six defendants are members of a radical group variously identified as the Armed Resistance Unit, the Revolutionary Fighting Group and the Red Guerrilla Resistance Unit.

The group is linked to the $1.6-million armed robbery of a Brinks armored car near Nyack, N.Y., in 1981, in which two policemen and a guard were killed. Buck is serving a 50-year sentence for participating in the Brinks holdup and four other armed robberies.

The plea agreement, filed last week by U.S. Atty. Jay B. Stephens, said the disposition of the bombing case was “in the interest of justice” but did not say why the government agreed to it.

Lawyers familiar with the case said that a Supreme Court decision in May in a New York case on the issue of double jeopardy figured in the government’s willingness to drop the charges against Susan L. Rosenberg, Timothy A. Blunk and Alan Berkman.