APmo 05/13 0530 Pires-Plea Bargain SANDPOINT, Idaho (AP) -- Sentencing for Robert Pires, t

APmo 05/13 0530 Pires-Plea Bargain


   SANDPOINT,  Idaho  (AP)  --  Sentencing  for Robert Pires, the
Maryland man who sought government  protection  in  exchange  for
information  about  white-supremacist activities, was halted by a
judge who says information surrounding Pires' first-degree murder
plea does not support the charge.

   Pires, of Silver Spring, Md., came forward to  the  FBI  after
bombs rocked Coeur d'Alene.  He entered a guilty plea in February
in  connection  with  the  shooting  death last August of Kenneth
Shray of Baltimore.

   Pires and Shray were acquainted through their  connections  to
the  Church  of  Jesus Christ Christian (Aryan Nations), based at
Hayden Lake.

   Pires' guilty plea in Bonner County was part of a plea bargain
that involved  Kootenai  County  Prosecutor  Glen  Walker,  whose
jurisdiction  covers Coeur d'Alene, Bonner County Prosecutor Phil
Robinson,  and Assistant  U.S. Attorney Earl  Hicks  in  Spokane,
Wash.

   Pires   recently  received  a  20-year  federal  sentence  for
weapons, counterfeiting and bombing charges.  In exchange for his
guilty  pleas  and  information,  he  was  to   receive   federal
protection.

   It  was not immediately clear if the delay in sentencing would
affect the Bonner  County  plea  bargain,  or  deals  Pires  made
elsewhere.

   Three  others  were  arrested  on  bombing  and counterfeiting
charges last fall after Pires told authorities about  a  plan  to
use  counterfeiting  and robberies to finance a white-supremacist
revolution.  The  bombings  were  to  be  a  diversion  during  a
robbery.

   Pires was  to  be sentenced on the murder charge Tuesday.  But
1st District Judge Dar Cogswell questioned whether the  facts  of
the murder case meet the legal definition of aiding and abetting,
officials said.

   Shray's bullet-ridden body was found Aug. 18 near Clark Fork.

   During   a   trial   early  this  year  for  two  other  white
supremacists who  eventually  pleaded  guilty  to  counterfeiting
charges,  Hicks  said  David  Dorr,  who  also  pleaded guilty to
counterfeiting charges and faces further  charges  in  connection
with the bombings, may have been the triggerman in Shray's death.

   Hicks,  Walker and Robinson were not at their homes or offices
Tuesday night for comment.  Efforts by telephone to reach  Pires'
attorney,   Kerwin   Bennett   in   Coeur   d'Alene,   also  were
unsuccessful.

   Dorr and  Edward  and  Olive  Hawley  all  pleaded  guilty  to
counterfeiting  charges  when they learned Pires would testify at
their trials.

   Mrs.  Hawley was sentenced to four years' probation.    Edward
Hawley  received a four-year term, while Dorr received a six-year
term.

	Edward Hawley also awaits federal bombing charges.
   
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