Jose Solis Jordan had a constitutional right to support Puerto Rican independence, but the university professor crossed the line when he allegedly planted two pipe bombs outside a military recruiting center on Chicago’s Northwest Side, a prosecutor charged Thursday.
“This is 1st Amendment protected free speech,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Virginia Kendall said, holding up a book written by Solis while delivering her closing argument to the jury.
“But this is a crime,” Kendall said, pointing at an enlarged picture of a military car destroyed in the December 1992 bombing.
Nobody was injured in the incident.
Defense lawyer Jed Stone argued during his closing that Solis, a professor at the University of Puerto Rico and formerly at DePaul University, never crossed that line because he yields greater influence through academic endeavors.
“There is more power in the pen of Jose Solis than in any 20 of Marrero’s bombs,” said Stone, referring to Rafael Marrero, the prosecution’s star witness in the trial.
Marrero, a former friend of Solis’, admitted his role in the bombing and received immunity from prosecution. Another man, Eddie Brooks, who was part of the conspiracy, also testified against Solis.
Stone tried to discredit Marrero’s testimony, calling him a liar. He said that on the December evenings that Marrero testified he and Solis made and planted the bombs, Solis taught a class at DePaul University.
Stone also attacked the FBI tapes of conversations with Marrero, Solis and his wife, Martha Gonzalez Simonet, noting they did not specifically mention the words, “bombs,” “military recruiting center” or the name of the radical group that planted the bombs, the Frente Revolucionario Boricua.
“These tapes are not the smoking gun the government thinks they are,” Stone said.
During his closing, Assistant U.S. Atty. Jonathan Bunge said that the tapes refer to 1992, the year of the bombing, statutes of limitations and to other co-conspirators and the FBI.
“Even Mr. Stone can’t call a tape recorder a liar,” Bunge said.
Stone also insisted that Solis never confessed and repeatedly asked for a lawyer.
The prosecution called eight FBI agents who said they never heard Solis ask for a lawyer.
The jurors will continue deliberations Friday.
