FAYETTEVILLE — An attorney for a Madison County man accused of building a bomb that was found outside a Carroll County church in June said Tuesday that prosecutors are stalling for time to build their case.
That delay is causing Mark Stephen Krause, 40, to languish in jail, Assistant Federal Public Defender Bruce Eddy said in U.S. District Court.
Eddy argued against a request by prosecutors to postpone Krause’s March 14 jury trial.
U.S. District Court Judge Jimm L. Hendren said he will decide this week whether he will delay the trial until May 31.
Federal prosecutors are now asking for a May 31 trial because the FBI won’t be finished examining evidence until mid-April and they want to ensure time for review of the evidence by attorneys for both sides.
Krause has been in federal custody since his arrest Dec. 3 in Seattle in connection with a bomb that was found at the Osage Baptist Church on June 9, a day after the church had been used as a polling place for a runoff primary election. Authorities have said the bomb was concealed inside a Pepsi can. It didn’t explode.
Initially, Krause was arrested on a complaint accusing him of illegally possessing a bomb and trying to use it to kill a voter or poll worker.
Instead, a federal grand jury indicted him Jan. 13 on one count of possessing an unregistered firearm, namely a destructive device.
A second grand jury returned a 13-count “superseding” indictment on Feb. 24, charging Krause with working with friend Michael Pierce, 70, to illegally possess a short-barreled rifle, three machine guns and three silencers.
Krause still faces a charge of possessing the bomb, but also faces one count of conspiracy to possess unregistered weapons and seven counts of aiding and abetting Pierce in keeping the weapons.
Pierce faces one charge of conspiracy to possess the weapons and seven charges of aiding and abetting Krause in possessing the weapons. Pierce is also charged with two counts of lying to the FBI and two counts of possessing his own unregistered weapons.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Johnson said the government sought the superseding indictment as early as it could, but had to wait for the weapons to be tested before going to the next regularly scheduled grand jury.
Pierce’s attorney Erwin Davis argued against trying the men together. Davis said a jury in Pierce’s case shouldn’t have to sit through several days of evidence related to a bomb he’s not linked to.
Eddy is also seeking to have the men tried separately and both want the case tried in Harrison.
Johnson is arguing to keep the cases together and in the Fayetteville division of the Western District of Arkansas.
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 03/09/2011