APco 06/18 1812 Berg Suspects DENVER (AP) -- Three suspects in the slaying death of radio

APco 06/18 1812 Berg Suspects


   DENVER  (AP)  --  Three suspects in the slaying death of radio
personality Alan Berg awaiting a Sept. 8 court date, on Wednesday
complained to a federal judge  about  conditions  at  the  Denver
County Jail.

   The  three  -- David Lane, Bruce Pierce and Richard Scutari --
complained they were being deprived of light,  fresh  air,  phone
calls, visitors and Aryan Nations mail.

   The trio, and a fourth defendant, Jean Craig, are members of a
violent neo-Nazi group charged with violating Berg's civil rights
by killing him outside his home in June 1984.

   Pierce  told  U.S.  District  Judge Richard P. Matsch that the
threed a breath of fresh air since they were brought to Denver in
May.

   "The dogs living in the dog pound have more exercise and fresh
air than I do," Pierce said.

   Scutari told the judge they didn't  expect  special  treatment
but had been respectful to their jailers and felt they were being
harassed.  "Like any dog in a kennel, if provoked enough, we will
respond," he said.

   After court recessed, the judge held a  private  meeting  with
attorneys   and   marshals   to   discuss   their  conditions  of
confinement.

   The  men  again  raised  their  challenge   to   the   court's
jurisdiction in  the  case.  They claim to be common-law citizens
of  their  individual  home  states,   don't   acknowledge   U.S.
citizenship  and  therefore  argue  that the federal court has no
jurisdiction in cases against them.

   They contend that the white race is being  destroyed  by  laws
that protect minorities and disenfranchise the white majority. "I
am  in  the vanguard of those who will not submit to the dilution
and destruction of our race," Lane told the judge.

   Matsch said he will issue a written opinion on this and  other
pending motions in the case.

   The  four defendants were convicted on racketeering charges in
a 1985 federal trial in Seattle and are serving long prison terms
for those convictions.

   Lane, Pierce and Scutari also are named in a related  sedition
indictment  in  Fort Smith, Ark., returned by a grand jury on the
same day the Denver charges were filed.

Last page !