AKRON: Prosecutors won’t be allowed to play an audio tape of what they said amounted to a confession at the trial of four men accused of plotting to bomb a highway bridge near Cleveland.
A defense attorney for Douglas L. Wright, 26, of Indianapolis, argued Monday that the tape shouldn’t be played because the FBI didn’t record the entire interview and that it would be unfair to only play excerpts of the interview.
U.S. District Court Judge David Dowd agreed to bar the audio tape, but he did say that the FBI agent who conducted the interview can testify at the trial about what Wright told him.
Authorities said five men were arrested in April after they tried to detonate what was actually a fake explosive provided by a paid FBI informant. The FBI said the public was never in danger. The suspects are described by the government as self-proclaimed anarchists.
Four of the men have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to go on trial in September while a fifth man, Anthony Hayne, 35, of Cleveland, pleaded guilty in July and agreed to testify against his co-defendants.
FBI agent Brian Taylor interviewed Wright for two hours after his arrest, but officials said the entire conversation was not recorded because of a technical problem.
Taylor testified Monday that Wright said the group targeted a bridge in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park between Cleveland and Akron to “minimize the impact of the explosion and avoid civilian casualties,” the Plain Dealer reported.
One defense attorney has called the investigation a case of entrapment, with the informant guiding the way.