VanPac News History

November 15, 1990, Thursday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section B; Page 14; Column 6; National Desk

LENGTH: 257 words

HEADLINE: New Issue May Delay Trial for Bomb Suspect

BYLINE: AP

DATELINE: ATLANTA, Nov. 14

BODY:

An 11-month investigation of the mail Bomb killings of a Federal judge and a civil rights lawyer has stalled over efforts by prosecutors to disqualify the suspect's court-appointed lawyer.

Federal prosecutors notified a Federal magistrate on Tuesday that they would file a motion this week seeking to disqualify the lawyer, Bruce Harvey.

The move could delay the trial of Walter Leroy Moody Jr. He was accused in a 70-count Federal indictment, handed down last week, of sending parcel bombs that killed Judge Robert Vance of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Alabama, and Robert Robinson, a lawyer, in Savannah.

The bombs were sent over a three-day period in December 1989.

Howard Shapiro, a Special Assistant United States Attorney, gave no reason for seeking to remove Mr. Harvey, but he said Tuesday that it "will all be quite clear in whatever motion we file."

Michael Hauptman, a lawyer who is assisting Mr. Harvey in the case, said he expects that the Government will base its disqualification argument on the possibility that Mr. Harvey might be called as a witness in the trial.

Mr. Harvey could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Moody, from Rex. Ga., is to be tried in Brunswick later this month on charges of witness tampering and obstruction of justice in connection with a 1972 conviction for possessing a pipe bomb.

Mr. Moody's defense team, led by Mr. Harvey, filed a motion last Thursday seeking to bar all Federal judges from hearing the case. The Government has not yet filed a response.