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Lawyers allege bomb-making materials were seized illegally

Attorneys for the two men found outside Capitola City Hall with bomb-making materials say most of the evidence against their clients was seized illegally.

Peter George Schnell, 20, of Massachusetts and Matthew Robert Whyte, 18, of Orange face federal charges of possessing destructive devices and having materials to make explosives.

The men were arrested Jan. 23 with enough materials to make at least 10 Molotov cocktails, crude bombs made of bottles filled with gasoline, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which took over the case last month.

Capitola officers reportedly spotted Schnell crouching near Whyte’s Nissan Sentra with some of the bomb-making materials. A search of Whyte’s car turned up 10 gallons of gasoline, 10 empty gallon containers and some smaller plastic containers filled with gasoline.

Outside the car, officers discovered several plastic caps with holes drilled in them and a drill.

Mark Vermeulen of San Francisco and Lawrence E. Weiss of Santa Rosa, attorneys for the defendants, said police should have secured a search warrant before entering the car. A hearing date is pending on the illegal search and seizure claim.

Whyte has been released on $50,000 bail while Schnell is expected to make bail this week, said Weiss, Schnell’s attorney. That a judge even allowed bail shows that prosecutors’ claims that Whyte and Schnell are flight risks were unfounded, the defense attorneys said.

"A judge allowing the release was an important ruling for us, but it was also the first time a neutral party (the judge) looked at this case overall," Vermeulen said.

U.S. attorneys had requested the two remain in jail during the trial. They argued the two were affiliated with the Animal Liberation Front, or ALF, an animal rights group that advocates inflicting economic damage on animal abusers and disobeying law enforcement and court orders.

Vermeulen, who specializes in cases of civil disobedience, said the arguments were flawed because there is nothing to link the two men to ALF and their criminal records don’t tell the whole story. He said his client will show up for future court hearings, the next scheduled for March 19 in federal court in San Jose.

"I have no doubt at all about him," said Vermeulen. "He has a very supportive family structure."

Weiss said the government’s early accusations were a reach. "The whole ALF issue is a red herring."

If convicted, the two face a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Contact Darrel W. Cole at dcole@santa-cruz.com.

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