---

Sacramento, California, Friday, September 20, 2002

Defense attorney wants racist remarks thrown out

Published 4:40 a.m. PDT Friday, September 20, 2002

LOS ANGELES (AP) - An attorney for a Jewish Defense League member accused of plotting to bomb a mosque and a congressman's field office wants a judge to throw out racist statements his client made during secretly recorded conversations.

Defense attorney Mark Werksman said his client, Earl Krugel, made offensive remarks about Arabs and blacks during a meeting with an FBI informant. Werksman believes the statements are irrelevant and would unfairly portray Krugel as a racist.

"He's a dedicated, zealous advocate of protecting the Jewish community, and in unguarded moments he used derogatory language that does not reflect his true feelings about other peoples' race and ethnicity," Werksman said of Krugel.

Krugel, 59, and JDL's Chairman Irv Rubin were arrested Dec. 11 after an FBI informant delivered an explosive powder that authorities believed was the last component in making pipe bombs to blow up the San Clemente field office of Arab-American U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and the King Fahd Mosque in suburban Culver City.

The men, who are being held without bail, have denied the charges. They said the FBI informant, who was a former JDL member, made up the bomb plot and tried to entrap them in order to oust them as leaders of the organization.

Prosecutors said the bombing targets were talked about on the tapes by the two suspects and the informant was asked to buy some of the bomb components, including gunpowder and pipes.

The trial is expected to start in November.

Related stories on this website:

Trying to Blow up a Mosque? Meet the JDL fanatics | Los Angeles Times softens the profile of JDL terrorist Irv Rubin | LA grand jury indicts JDL members Rubin, Krugel in bomb plan | The Irv Rubin story: Never say never again | FBI spells Finis to Thug's Career: Militant JDL Chief Irv Rubin Arrested after Gunpowder Plot | Australia reports | Full text of charges | IHR recalls JDL's record | David Irving, Radical's Diary on Rubin: "He seems to have enjoyed a life inspired by hatred of others whom he regards as inferior -- the very archetype of a nazi. | "From the Irv Rubin bust to the Stern Gang: The Rich History of Jewish Terrorism"