A judge has denied a request from the three men accused of a bomb plot targeting Somali immigrants to expand the jury pool in their case to areas with more Trump supporters.
Gavin Wright, Patrick Stein, and Curtis Allen will be tried in Wichita for allegedly planning to bomb a Somali mosque and apartment complex in Garden City the day after the 2016 presidential election.
The jurors will come from the Wichita and Hutchinson areas.
The defendants had asked for the jury pool to include people from the 28 counties in the Dodge City jury division -- people who, they argued, “live in more rural areas and are more politically conservative.”
U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren denied that request, saying in his ruling that they’d failed to prove the plan for jury selection in the case discriminates against Republicans.
