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Sacramento, California, Thursday, October 10, 2002

JDL leader's attorneys want separate trials for defendants

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES(AP) - Jewish Defense League leader Irv Rubin and his associate Earl Krugel should be tried separately for allegedly plotting to bomb a mosque and a congressman's field office, defense attorneys argue.

Court documents filed Wednesday in federal court by Rubin's lawyers asked that the defendants' trial, slated for Nov. 12, should be severed.

Rubin contends he had nothing to do with the alleged plot to bomb the King Fahd mosque in Culver City and a field office of Arab American U.S. Rep. Darrell E. Issa R-Calif., last year.

Krugel, 59, and Rubin, 56, were arrested Dec. 11 after an FBI informant delivered an explosive powder that authorities believed was the last component in making pipe bombs.

Both men face sentences of at least 40 years in prison if convicted.

Krugel's defense is that he was illegally entrapped by a former league member turned government informer. Prosecutors are expected to present evidence that Krugel was involved in at least two previous bombing plots.

Rubin's attorneys Peter Morris and Bryan Altman said that information will likely prejudice their client in the eyes of the jury.

"Even if this court gives the jury an instruction that the prior bombing evidence is not to be considered against Rubin, the jury will not be able to separate out the evidence," his lawyers asserted.

Furthermore, the lawyers argued, alleged racial remarks made by Krugel would also harm Rubin's case.

In a separate motion, Rubin's lawyers asked a judge to order prosecutors to turn over records concerning FBI investigations into the 1985 murder of Alex Odeh, director of the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee's West Coast office in Santa Ana, and a series of alleged death threats against Rubin in 2000 and 2001.

Rubin and other league members were subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Odeh's slaying, which remains unsolved. Rubin has publicly denied any involvement.

Rubin's lawyers said they want the government's files on the Odeh case to show that the FBI was "out to get" Rubin because it could not implicate him in the murder.

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