Vallejo Bomb Suspects Appear at Hearing

Attorneys were wading through 1,400 pages of evidence Friday for what is expected to be a long case against six men accused in a series of bombings intended to derail a drug case against one of them.

“We know there are a myriad of issues that will have to be resolved in motions,” Solano County Municipal Judge Luis Villarreal said after a brief arraignment hearing at which none of the suspects entered pleas.

During the heavily guarded hearing, Villarreal said pleas will be entered in Vallejo Feb. 25 and a date for a preliminary hearing will be set then. He declined to set bail for any of the suspects, although one man accused of lesser charges got permission to formally file for bail.

Kevin Lee Robinson, 29, a suspected drug dealer, is accused of masterminding a bombing at the county courthouse in Vallejo last month to delay a hearing in his drug case.

A drug conviction could send him to prison for life under the state’s new three strikes law.

Another bomb went off outside a bank Jan. 26 and investigators found explosives outside a library Jan. 25. Police also found more than 500 pounds of dynamite that they believe is related.

No one was injured in the bombings, all of which took place in Vallejo, about 35 miles east of San Francisco.

The other suspects face charges ranging from conspiracy to burglary and setting off explosives. They are Jason Robert Pascual, Orlando Johnson, Francis Donald Ernestberg and Army Osotonu and his older brother, Oston. Police believe they were responsible or knew of plans to explode the two dynamite bombs.

All five appeared with Robinson, at their second hearing since their arrests began Feb. 2.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Kealy said he would have the paperwork read and ready to turn over to defense attorneys by next week.

Meanwhile, defense attorneys are still protesting that the case should not be heard in Vallejo.

“Obviously, my concern about Vallejo is there was a bombing there,” Robinson’s attorney, Daniel Russo, said after the hearing.

The suspects’ lawyers are expected to ask later that the trial be moved out of Solano County and to request a gag order to curb what the defense attorneys view as prejudicial statements from police sources to reporters about their clients and the case.

They also are likely to ask that the Solano County district attorney’s office be removed from the case because prosecutors’ offices were damaged in the Vallejo blast.

The one defendant seeking bail is Army Osotonu.

“He is in a different position because he’s not charged with any bombing or attempting to bomb or helping to bomb,” said his attorney, Edward Duree.