Prosecutor Shows Photos Of Bombed Arizona Office
January 13, 2012 12:00AM (UTC)
PHOENIX (AP) — Prosecutors in the federal trial of two white supremacist brothers said Thursday that one of the accused men belonged to a group that encouraged members to act as "lone wolves" in committing violence against non-whites and the government.
Dennis and Daniel Mahon have pleaded not guilty in the 2004 attack in which a package detonated in the hands of Don Logan, Scottsdale's diversity director at the time. The package injured Logan's hand and arm and hurt a secretary.
Dennis Mahon was a member of White Aryan Resistance at the time, prosecutor John Boyle said.
"This is a case about racial violence," Boyle said. "The defendants were opposed to people who were not white but it was much more than that."
Boyle showed pictures of the diversity office after the bombing and played a recording of a message left at the office by Dennis Mahon five months before the bombing. The brothers sat quietly about 20 feet from Logan, who listened closely to the proceedings.
Defense attorneys are scheduled to give their opening statement later Thursday.
The jury in the trial was chosen this week following years of delays because of the extensive amount of evidence in the cases.
The evidence includes years of video and audio recordings of the Mahons' interactions with an attractive female government informant recruited to befriend the brothers.
The 61-year-old brothers have pleaded not guilty in the Feb. 26, 2004, bombing. They are charged with conspiracy to damage buildings and property by means of explosive, and Dennis Mahon also is charged with malicious damage of a building by means of explosive and distribution of information related to explosives.
Boyle said Thursday that although the Mahons' DNA wasn't on the bomb, evidence at trial will show that they admitted their involvement to a government informant.
The Mahons were arrested in June 2009 after making admissions to the informant over a period of years.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives recruited a civilian 20 years younger than the Mahons because of her good looks. They had her stay in a trailer at campground in Catoosa, Okla., where the brothers were staying at the time.
The woman, identified in court records as Rebecca Williams, struck up a friendship with the Mahons by displaying the Confederate flag, dressing in tank tops and shorts and talking about a fictitious plan to hurt a child molester that she knew.
She had periodic conversations with the men over the next few years and even sent them at least two racy photos of herself, taken by the ATF unbeknownst to the brothers.
One photo showed Williams in a leather jacket, fishnet stockings and a thong that completely exposed her buttocks, along with a note that said, "Thought you'd love the butt shot." The other showed her in a revealing white bikini top with a grenade hanging between her breasts as Williams posed in front of a pickup truck and a swastika.
Dennis Mahon opened up to Williams as the government recorded their conversations. Mahon showed Williams how to make bombs and bragged about bombing a Jewish community center, an Internal Revenue Service building, an immigration facility, and an abortion clinic, according to court records. Those claims have not been corroborated.
Mahon also talked to Williams about the Scottsdale bombing, telling her that he didn't do it but convinced white police officers to do it.
"I just wanted to teach (Logan) a lesson the first time," Mahon said, according to court records.
Follow Amanda Lee Myers on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AmandaLeeAP