VanPac News History
Copyright 1990 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
July 12, 1990, Thursday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 22, Column 1; National Desk
LENGTH: 597 words
HEADLINE: U.S. Says Arrest Might Aid in
Bomb Investigation
BYLINE: By RONALD SMOTHERS, Special to The New York Times
DATELINE: ATLANTA, July 11
BODY:
Federal agents investigating a rash of bombings in the Southeast last December
said today that they hoped the arrest on other charges of a man who was the
focus of their investigation would eventually strengthen the bombing case.
The man, Walter Leroy Moody Jr., was indicted Tuesday on charges of perjury and
obstruction of justice in a case of
Bomb possession dating to 1972.
Earlier this year, Federal officials began investigating Mr. Moody in
connection with the bombing deaths of Judge
Robert Vance, of the Federal appeals court, in Mountain Brook, Ala., and Robert Robinson, a
lawyer in Savannah, Ga.
Agents have said Mr. Moody is ''the focus'' of their investigation into the
bombings.
Mr. Moody's lawyer, Bruce Harvey, today called Tuesday's indictment of his
client the investigators' ''consolation prize'' from their six months of
intensive, but so far inconclusive, focus on his client.
''This has nothing to do with the bombing investigation,'' Mr. Harvey said.
''This has been a six-month intensive investigation by at least six agencies of
the Federal Government. They have issued at least nine search warrants aimed at
my client, and President Bush has said that this is a priority case, and what
they come up with is not an indictment in the mail bombing case. Well, I call
this charge a consolation prize.''
Move Could Draw Witnesses
Investigators in the case, who spoke on the condition that their names not be
used, said today that they hoped the arrest and detention of Mr. Moody would
prompt witnesses in the bombing case to come forward.
Sam Wilson, the Assistant United States Attorney for the Middle District of
Georgia, who is prosecuting the perjury and obstruction of justice case, has
asked that Mr. Moody be held without bond under provisions of Federal law that
permit pretrial detention of anyone considered a threat to potential witnesses
or jurors. A hearing will be held Thursday on his request.
Investigators working on the bombing case say that in their opinion Mr. Moody
is capable of intimidating potential witnesses.
Mr. Wilson would not comment on whether the case was connected to the
continuing investigations into the bombings last year.
But as Mr. Moody was being arraigned Tuesday in Macon, seated at the table with
Mr. Wilson was Louis Freeh, who was appointed in May to be special prosecutor
in the bombing investigation.
The
perjury case grew out of appeals that Mr. Moody, a 56-year-old freelance
literary consultant, filed for a 1972 conviction for
Bomb possession.
Mr. Moody, who lives in Rex, Ga., was indicted with his wife, Susan, on 13
counts of perjury, bribery, obstruction of justice and tampering with a witness.
Indictment Relates to Testimony
The indictment charges that in the most recent of many appeals by Mr. Moody, he
and his wife engaged in a scheme to place responsibility for the
Bomb on someone else and enlisted an Atlanta woman and her mother to give false
testimony in a 1986 hearing.
The women are cooperating with prosecutors, and, last April, were placed in a
witness protection program after they expressed concerns about their safety.
Jack Killorin, a spokesman for the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which is part of the Federal task
force working on the bombing case, said that the current charges, quite apart
from any connection with the bombing investigation, were ''serious allegations
which stand on their own.''
If convicted on all the charges, Mr. Moody faces as many as 69 years in prison,
and his wife as many as 64. Each could be fined $1.2 million.