Judge delays his decision on releasing alleged bomber

PHOENIX (AP) – A federal judge on Wednesday delayed a decision on whether to release one of two Ogle County men charged in a 2004 bombing that injured a city official in Scottsdale, Ariz.

U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow said at the Phoenix hearing that Daniel Mahon, 58, of Davis Junction, has a right to attend the court hearing, agreeing with his lawyer and prosecutors.

Mahon’s attorney wants him brought to Arizona for the next hearing, set for July 28.

“I think the defendant has a right to be present at this hearing; it’s evident that he is not,” prosecutor Michael Morrissey said at the hearing.

An Illinois judge ordered Mahon’s release on a $50,000 cash bond last week, but federal prosecutors appealed the decision, saying he poses a danger to the public and is a flight risk.

Daniel Mahon and his twin brother Dennis Mahon are charged with conspiracy to damage buildings and property by means of explosive. They were arrested June 25 at their home, where authorities say they found assault weapons, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and white supremacist material.

The charges stem from a bombing on Feb. 26, 2004, when a package detonated in the hands of Don Logan, Scottsdale’s diversity director at the time, in the city’s Human Resources Complex. The explosion injured Logan’s hand and arm and hurt a secretary.

Logan was sitting in the front row of the courtroom at Wednesday’s hearing and was supposed to address the court, but that also was postponed until July 28. He declined to speak to The Associated Press.

Daniel Mahon was allegedly a member of the White Aryan Resistance and a recruiter for the KKK, according to the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.

Dennis Mahon is alleged to have been a prominent player in white supremacist groups for 15 to 20 years, leading the Ku Klux Klan in Oklahoma in 1991, recruiting neo-Nazis and skinheads in the former East Germany and later joining the White Aryan Resistance, according to the center.

Dennis Mahon also is charged with malicious damage of a building by means of explosive and distribution of information related to explosives.