Four white supremacists, who in 1996 bombed The Spokesman-Review’s office in Spokane Valley and a Planned Parenthood clinic and who robbed banks, are scheduled to be back in Spokane this month as they seek an early release from their life sentences.
A federal judge has agreed to hear resentencing arguments in the cases of Charles Barbee, 68; Robert S. Berry, 68; Jay Merrell, 74; and Brian J. Ratigan, 61. The four men, who were linked to the domestic terrorist group the Phineas Priesthood, were convicted of multiple federal crimes – including armed robbery and arson, that carry mandatory minimum terms in prison under federal law – a year after their arrest as fugitives near Yakima.
But a 2015 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court found that some of the statutes the men were convicted under were unconstitutionally vague about the elements of crimes that require long prison sentences. The men requested new hearings by U.S. District Court Judge William Fremming Nielsen, who had originally heard their criminal trials in 1997. The judge granted them an opportunity to make their case for lesser sentences in October.
Federal prosecutors argued in court records that the four men should remain behind bars, despite the intervening court case.
“The Defendants present a grave danger to the public,” U.S. Assistant Attorney Joe Harrington, who originally prosecuted the case, wrote in court filings in November.
The Supreme Court ruling effectively reversed the convictions of Barbee, Berry and Merrell on two criminal counts, which included pipe bombing The Spokesman-Review’s former office building on Sprague Avenue in Spokane Valley on April 1, 1996.
After that bombing, the three men robbed a nearby U.S. Bank branch of nearly $72,000. A conviction for bombing the Planned Parenthood clinic in Spokane Valley on July 12, 1996, was also dismissed as a result of the Supreme Court ruling.
A second bank robbery occurred after that bombing at a different U.S. Bank branch on Sprague Avenue.
No injuries were reported in either bombing, but authorities said at the time that the foot-long, 2-inch diameter incendiary devices were large enough to kill bystanders.
The Phineas Priesthood is a loose collection of followers who have taken violent action in support of their beliefs against interracial marriage, abortion and charging interest in lending, a consequence of anti-Semitic sentiment.
Ratigan was tried separately from the other three men, and received a 55-year sentence that is scheduled to be complete in 2044. Ratigan, who was being held at a correctional facility in Colorado, argues in court filings that he should be released for time served. His resentencing hearing is scheduled for March 17.
The other men do not make a specific request in court filings for a sentence, but argue that the multiple life sentences handed down by Nielsen in 1997 should not stand because of the dismissal of other violent crime counts against them.
