Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 2, 1995 TAG: 9505020114
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"The high profile of, quote, militia groups, unquote, certainly could make it difficult, if not impossible, to find a jury that did not have that on their mind," U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser said.
He delayed the trial of Dennis Frith and Paul L. Greene for six to eight weeks.
Frith was a member of the Blue Ridge Hunt Club, a self-described citizens' militia. He is charged with conspiracy to violate firearm laws, possessing an unregistered silencer with no serial number, and making false statements on firearm records to obscure the identity of gun buyers.
Greene was a Blacksburg gun dealer who, the government claims, transferred a gun "off paper" - without the required paperwork - to club members, who turned it into an illegal machine gun.
The club's founder, James Roy Mullins, has pleaded guilty to federal firearm charges. He said the club's main purpose was to work against gun control through the political process. The government says the club was formed to provide cover "for the illegal activities of an 'inner core' group" and was stockpiling weapons.
The arrest of a man in the Oklahoma City bombing who may have had ties to a militia group in Michigan, and the intense publicity surrounding the militia movement, could affect a Roanoke jury, the judge and defense attorneys worried.
The trial of hunt club member William Stump II was delayed last week after Kiser found that seating an impartial jury would be a problem. His trial, which was separated from Greene and Frith's because he's representing himself, was rescheduled for July 17.
by CNB