Jury finds Yahnke guilty
Sarah Day — Staff WriterArticle Photos
BLUE EARTH - After a long day in the Faribault County courtroom on Wednesday, a jury of 12 unanimously found an 18-year-old Blue Earth man guilty of possessing explosive components with intent to manufacture an explosive.
On July 14, John Andrew Yahnke's apartment was searched on a warrant after a woman told police that while her 15-year-old daughter was at the apartment the week prior, he told the girl he was going to make a bomb.
In Yahnke's apartment police found about 75 miscellaneous legal fireworks, two model rocket engines, three bags full of white substances - two labeled as 5 pounds of ammonium nitrate and one bag labeled as 10 pounds of sodium nitrate. Also found were several cardboard cylinders with one end plugged with a dowel. A nail was inserted into that same end. One cylinder had several feet of fuse attached to it, and an additional length of fuse also was found.
"'I want to make a bomb,'" prosecutor Brian Roverud said in his opening statement Wednesday. "That's what Mr. Yahnke said to a witness."
"John Yahnke was not building a bomb," countered Yahnke's public defender, Bill Grogin. "He did not intend to build a bomb. He had parts for legal fireworks and legal rockets."
Grogin said having any of the items separately is not illegal. He said prosecutors were relying on the statement of a 15-year-old girl, and that Yahnke never told her he was building a bomb.
"When police received this report, they did not find a bomb, did not find directions of how to build a bomb, did not find a partially built bomb," Grogin said.
The 15-year-old testified that when she arrived at Yahnke's apartment on July 9, she noticed a lot of fireworks in the kitchen and bedroom. She said Yahnke asked her and a friend if they had checking accounts.
"Because he wanted to buy some stuff to make a bomb," she said.
She said Yahnke was in the kitchen taking apart fireworks.
Grogin asked who else was there. The teen listed five other people.
Blue Earth Officer Jake Ruppert also testified Wednesday. Grogin asked him why he hadn't sought any other potential witnesses before requesting a search warrant. Ruppert said the situation was serious and he wanted to apply for the search warrant quickly, saying they sometimes take a while to get.
"My main concern was how far along the bomb was," Ruppert said. "I didn't really know what was going on."
Grogin asked if Ruppert followed up with any witnesses. The officer said he interviewed two, and said they corroborated the girl's statement of fireworks being taken apart in the kitchen. In one statement, a teen told of Yahnke emptying powder from a firework onto a piece of paper that was about the size of a golf ball.
Grogin called that teen to testify. The teen, a friend of Yahnke's, said he shared a love of fireworks with Yahnke. He said he saw Yahnke emptying the powder, but did not think of it as illegal or dangerous. The teen did not see any of the other evidence presented, except the legal fireworks. He said the powder would just cause a "very bright flash."
Ruppert stated that once officers saw the bags with the white substances, they retreated from the apartment and the police chief called the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's duty officer. The BCA dispatched the Chemical Assessment Team of Mankato, the Bloomington Bomb Squad and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to the scene.
Glen Cansler, Mankato firefighter and CAT member, testified that he evaluated the scene and determined the materials were not dangerous in current form. Cansler monitored the bags visually and also used a piece of equipment that could detect combustible carbon fuels - a component that would have made the ammonium nitrate or sodium nitrate dangerous.
Cansler did not recommend the building be evacuated, but residents were made aware of the situation so they could decide if they wanted to leave.
Cansler field-tested the substances and determined them to be what they were labeled. He also packaged the contents in sterile glass jars for testing at the BCA.
Kristin McDonald, forensic scientist in the BCA laboratory, analyzed the substances. She also found the substances were accurately labeled. Roverud asked if there were any other chemicals found mixed in. McDonald said there were not.
McDonald testified three things would be needed to make an explosive - an oxidizer, such as the ammonium nitrate or sodium nitrate, a fuel - something carbon-based such as sugar, wood chips or powdered metals, and something to ignite it, such as the engines for the rockets. McDonald noted that fireworks commonly contain flash powder, which often has powdered metals.
"Is there anything missing?" Roverud asked.
"No. There is not," McDonald replied.
Yahnke also took the stand.
He admitted the materials were bought from different places. Roverud asked why he didn't buy them all in the same place. Yahnke said he couldn't.
"In buying and using these, did you ever think you were doing anything wrong?" Roverud asked.
Yahnke said he did not. He said he originally planned to use the cylinders and chemicals to make model rockets. Yahnke said he lacked a lot of the equipment and other materials to do so, so he gave it up.
"I didn't have any plans for it at the moment," he said.
Grogin asked him about the day the 15-year-old witness was over. Yahnke said several other people were over, hanging out and smoking cigarettes. He said music was playing loudly.
"With music going and everybody talking, I think it was pretty easy to mishear somebody," Yahnke said.
He did not think the girl was lying, but believes she did not hear what he said correctly.
Yahnke also said he found surprising McDonald's statement about using the model rocket engines to make an explosive device.
"I didn't know it could make an explosive device," he said.
The jury deliberated for nearly an hour before concluding Yahnke was guilty of possession of one or more explosive materials with intent to manufacture.
He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and $10,000 fine.
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Yahnke
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11-04-08 4:25 AM
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John Yahnke Is Innocent And Will Appeal! And Win.
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