Judge won’t drop charges against suspect in alleged Wichita airport bomb plot

A federal judge on Friday refused to dismiss terrorism-related charges against a former avionics technician accused of trying to bomb Wichita Mid-Continent Airport more than a year ago.

Judge Monti Belot in a court filing rejected calls by defense attorneys to drop charges against Terry Lee Loewen amid claims of outrageous government misconduct, entrapment and First Amendment rights abuses stemming from an FBI sting operation that culminated in the Wichitan’s arrest on Dec. 13, 2013.

Loewen is charged with three counts in the alleged suicide bomb plot: attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted use of an explosive device and attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, Muslim militant group al-Qaida. He was arrested early Dec. 13 as he tried to unlock an airport security gate, allegedly to drive a van loaded with what he believed to be active explosives onto the tarmac.

Loewen, 59, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Prosecutors have said Loewen spent months planning the attack, which was designed to inflict maximum carnage at the airport before Christmas.

Belot in his ruling wrote that claims of entrapment and government misconduct are tied to the merits of a case and cannot be decided before trial. He also wrote that Loewen’s right to free speech “does not extend to engaging in violent acts of the type alleged” and that the First Amendment does not prevent the court from using speech to establish crime elements or a defendant’s motive or intent.

Belot on Friday also rejected defense calls to suppress evidence recovered from Loewen’s red 2010 Mazda on the day of his arrest. In a motion filed Feb. 2, Loewen’s attorneys argued that law enforcement agents executing the warrant acted in “flagrant disregard” because they searched the vehicle after the time and date written on the warrant.

But Belot sided with prosecutors, who contended in their response that a simple clerical error led the magistrate judge who signed the warrant to write the wrong date – Dec. 12 rather than Dec. 13 – on the document.

Defense attorneys in their motion demanding dismissal of the charges said Loewen “was not predisposed to commit these crimes when the Government set in motion its plan … to befriend and then radicalize” him. The defense attorneys also wrote that Loewen, who converted to Islam in December 2008, “understandably … grew concerned over the use of force by the United States overseas” and his protected speech about the matter not only drew the attention and investigation of the FBI, but ultimately led to his prosecution.

Loewen remains in Sedgwick County Jail without bond, according to online booking records.

This story was originally published March 6, 2015 at 6:57 PM with the headline "Judge won’t drop charges against suspect in alleged Wichita airport bomb plot."