February 4, 2019
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
An attorney for an area man is trying to keep possible damaging testimony from being submitted in an upcoming trial.
The federal court trial for 24-year-old Jerry Drake Varnell of Sayre is set for Tuesday, February 12 in Oklahoma City after being postponed three times since the incident in 2017.
Varnell is accused of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction to blow up the BancFirst building in downtown Oklahoma City. He was arrested in an elaborate FBI sting operation after he unwittingly built a fake bomb and tried to detonate it at the direction of federal agents.
According to an internet story ran by The Frontier, an FBI explosives expert built and detonated a 1-thousand pound ammonium nitrate bomb in a Kansas field near the Fort Riley Military Base. The action that provided a large, orange fireball with bits of flying shrapnel and billowing smoke was in connection with the FBI’s case against Varnell.
His attorney is trying to keep the information and additional testimony about the explosion inadmissible arguing that video of the blast could unfairly prejudice a jury. The defense argues that the bomb, built by experienced weapons experts, is completely different than the inert bomb that Varnell. He was captured around 1 a.m. on Saturday, August 12, 2017 after he attempted to detonate what he thought was an explosives-laden van in the alley next to the bank.
His attorney is also trying to keep the federal government from presenting evidence on how many people were staying at the Skirvin Hotel a few blocks away from the bank building the night of the sting operation.
According to Mark Yancey, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma, the FBI was tipped off to the plot by a confidential informant. FBI sent agents posing as someone who could help man from Sayre.
Varnell allegedly claimed to have experience making small bombs, but was convinced by an undercover agent, posing as an explosives expert nicknamed “Professor,” that the agent should provide the supplies. Ultimately, FBI officials say Varnell was provided with faux bomb making materials. He was closely monitored for months as the alleged bomb plot developed.
Federal agents arrested Varnell at an Oklahoma City gas station after he dialed a number on a cell phone he was led to believe would detonate the inert bomb, parked a few miles away.
A new charge was brought against Varnell in April of 2018. According to the acting US attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment against Varnell. Robert J. Troester says Varnell attempted to use a weapon of mass destruction at BancFirst in Oklahoma City.
If convicted of this new charge, he would face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
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