Verdict Split in Spokane Bombing Case

A federal jury Wednesday deadlocked over charges that three white separatists carried out a string of bombings and bank robberies, but it convicted them of lesser offenses carrying up to 35 years in prison.

Prosecutors did not immediately say whether they will retry the three men in the three bombings and two robberies, all of which took place in the Spokane area last year.

“Yahweh is king of everything!” one of the defendants, Robert Berry, shouted as he was led from the courtroom.

Prosecutors said Berry, Verne Jay Merrell and Charles Barbee, all of Sandpoint, Idaho, belonged to an antigovernment militia cell with strongly held religious beliefs against banks and abortion. They described themselves as “ambassadors from Yahweh.”

After four days of deliberations, the jury was unable to reach a verdict on charges related to the bombing of a Planned Parenthood office and the Spokesman-Review newspaper, and the robbery and bombing of a bank.

“We needed more evidence to place these people where they were accused of being,” said the jury foreman, Allen Eschenbacher.

U.S. District Judge Frem Nielsen declared a mistrial on those charges.

The jury convicted the men of charges related to an Oct. 8 trip to Portland, Ore. The government said the trip was a failed bank robbery attempt.

The three were convicted of conspiracy, interstate transportation of stolen vehicles and possession of hand grenades. Sentencing was set for June 30.

The newspaper office was bombed on April 1, 1996, moments before the nearby bank was robbed and bombed. On July 12, the Planned Parenthood office was bombed shortly before the same bank branch was robbed again.

Merrell, 51, a former nuclear plant engineer; Barbee, 45, a former AT&T; supervisor; and truck mechanic Berry, 42, were arrested Oct. 8.

They admitted stealing two vehicles and making a trip to a U.S. Bank branch in Portland to send a message against the evils of banking and usury, or charging interest on loans.