RNC suspect admits to having explosives

The Texas suspect pleaded guilty to making Molotov cocktails and dropped a claim of coercion by an FBI informant.

By JAMES WALSH, Star Tribune

Last update: March 17, 2009 - 11:05 PM

After another day of thinking things over, David Guy McKay pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that he made and possessed Molotov cocktails during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul last summer.

McKay, 23, of Austin, Texas, blamed no one but himself for making the explosives. He claimed no entrapment. He no longer insisted that an undercover government informant persuaded him to break the law.

Another Austin man arrested and indicted with McKay, Bradley Crowder, pleaded guilty earlier.

"So it was just the two of you, Mr. Crowder and you, who came up with this plan?" U.S. Chief Judge Michael J. Davis asked McKay.

"Yes, sir," McKay said.

McKay and Crowder and a separate Molotov cocktail case involving Matthew DePalma represent the biggest convictions to come out of the 800 arrests made during the four-day convention in September.

McKay had intended to plead guilty Monday, the day his retrial was scheduled to begin. At his earlier trial, McKay had insisted that Brandon Darby, who was secretly working with the FBI, had come up with the idea to make Molotov cocktails.

McKay, Crowder and Darby were part of a group from Texas who came to St. Paul as part of a larger collection of protesters. McKay and Crowder made the Molotov cocktails after police seized a trailer containing shields that protesters had hoped to use in street demonstrations.

The FBI said McKay and Crowder made the bombs to get back at police. McKay had said he made the bombs only after Darby suggested it.

That entrapment claim was enough to result in a hung jury a month ago. It was a hard one for McKay to drop Monday, which prompted Davis to reject McKay's plea and to adjourn until Tuesday.

On Tuesday, while McKay still insisted that he, Crowder and Darby had talked about Molotov cocktails, he said he decided on his own to buy the gasoline and motor oil on the eve of the convention and to fill eight empty wine bottles. When Davis asked McKay why he had earlier testified that Darby had persuaded him, McKay told the judge that it was what he'd wanted to believe.

But Jeffrey Paulsen, the assistant U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case, said after the hearing that McKay was accepting responsibility because Crowder had been granted immunity from further prosecution and was going to testify at McKay's new trial. Crowder, Paulsen said, had repeatedly denied that anyone else influenced him to make the bombs and was expected to inject doubt into McKay's claims.

In fact, Paulsen said, when McKay confessed to the FBI months ago, he never mentioned Darby. Neither did he blame anyone else when he later wrote a letter to the judge claiming responsibility. Nor did he blame Darby during recorded telephone calls from jail.

On Tuesday, Paulsen said, McKay stopped blaming anyone else.

"And that was what the judge needed to know," Paulsen said.

After Davis accepted McKay's guilty plea, Paulsen asked the court to take him back into custody. McKay had been jailed since his arrest Sept. 3 until Davis declared a mistrial Feb. 2. McKay's attorney, Jeff DeGree, asked that McKay continue to remain free until sentencing. But Davis pointed out that federal law requires that anyone convicted of a crime of violence be held before sentencing.

McKay quietly removed his cell phone, wallet, suit coat, tie and belt and handed them to U.S. marshals to give to his father before he was led away. He and Crowder will be sentenced at a later date. McKay's father, Michel, who had been a vocal champion for his son's release at previous hearings, declined to comment Tuesday.

DeGree said the sentence will be up to the judge, but he hopes McKay receives somewhere between 36 months and 47 months in prison.

DeGree said McKay had decided that it is time to accept responsibility and move on.

"Obviously, this is the right decision for David to make at this time," DeGree said.

James Walsh • 612-673-7428