Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 12, 1995 TAG: 9508140074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER/ below
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I'm not going to plea-bargain for any felony," the 23-year-old firearm dealer said Friday as a jury deliberated whether he was guilty of four counts of aiding and abetting in the making, possessing and transferring of a machine gun and in grinding off the weapon's serial number.
"I want to be able to vote. I want to be able to own a weapon," Greene said.
Greene still has those rights.
The jury acquitted him of the four charges.
As a Blacksburg gun dealer, Greene admitted to trading a part from a damaged semiautomatic rifle to a business associate. That transfer is what the U.S. government tried to use to link Greene with a Pulaski County-based citizens' militia called the Blue Ridge Hunt Club. The business associate was Paul David Peterson, who was the chief witness against Greene in the three-day trial.
The Blue Ridge Hunt Club was founded last summer to fight gun-control laws and to take up arms if government agents ever tried to attack citizens.
The hunt club met just three times last summer before federal agents arrested five members on firearm charges. The club's vice president was an informant for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Greene's gun part ended up in the hands of James Roy Mullins, founder of the hunt club, who modified it into a machine gun and sent it to a friend in North Carolina, according to testimony at Greene's trial. The friend destroyed the weapon.
Greene said he never was associated with the club and he wasn't aware of how the gun part was to be used. He said he learned of Mullins only when he saw him on the first television news reports of the hunt club investigation.
"When I heard about it, it was shocking ... that a group would want to take reformation of government in their own hands" when there are better options in the court system and the ballot box, Greene said.
Greene breathed deeply and bowed his head for a moment when the final "not guilty" was read and he realized that telling his story to a jury had paid off.
After deliberating for two hours, the jurors returned to the courtroom, saying they were deadlocked and could not reach a verdict. Judge Jackson Kiser admonished them to keep trying, and they returned a half-hour later with the unanimous acquittal.
Outside the courtroom, Greene said he was through with the gun business and planned to surrender his federal firearm-dealer license as soon as possible.
But first, he said, he was going to visit his mother, who is in the hospital, and tell her the good news.
"I'm just thankful it's all over," he said.
Don Wolthuis, assistant U.S. attorney, said he wasn't "all that disappointed" with the verdict.
"I think we had a fair trial. ... From an evidence standpoint, it was a close case," he said.
The prosecutor said the media hoopla about the Blue Ridge Hunt Club investigation was "certainly disproportionate to the case," which centers on firearm violations. Greene's trial, scheduled soon after the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, was delayed because militias were receiving extensive news coverage.
Wolthuis commended the ATF for its efficient, speedy investigation.
"In this case, no shots were fired. No one was injured."
Dutton Olinger, Greene's lawyer, said Greene helped his case by testifying and was a good witness who was truthful. Olinger maintained throughout the trial that Peterson was not believable because he admitted he had lied about gun transactions he had made and because he was testifying as part of a plea agreement.
"I had nothing to give them," Greene said. "I knew nothing about this group."
Greene is the only one of four people tried so far who has chosen a jury trial. Three other defendants have entered plea agreements.
Mullins was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty in February to seven of 16 federal firearm violations, including making and possessing the machine gun. Dennis Frith pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to violate federal firearm laws. Peterson will be sentenced later.
William Stump II will be tried in September on charges he conspired to violate federal firearm laws and possessed unregistered silencers.
by CNB