Charges set in Erie collar-bomb case
An imprisoned former teacher learned Tuesday she will face federal charges in the bizarre 2003 collar-bomb death of an Erie pizza delivery man.
Lawrence D'Ambrosio, a lawyer for Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, said his client told him federal authorities delivered a detainer listing the charges she would face related to the death of Brian Wells.
Diehl-Armstrong, 58, a former Erie resident in state prison, is expected to be charged with conspiracy, bank robbery and a weapons violation.
Kenneth Barnes, 53, who is in the Erie County Jail, is expected to be charged with the same crimes, the Erie County Times reported on its Web site yesterday.
U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan plans to hold a news conference this afternoon in Erie to announce "a major development" in the investigation of Wells' death. She declined to comment further.
On Monday, federal public defender Thomas Patton requested a gag order to keep Buchanan from holding a news conference to announce charges against Diehl-Armstrong, whom he represents. He argued that "any public discussion of any forthcoming indictment would prejudice the potential jury pool in this case."
Patton's failure to file the request under seal, however, generated headlines from Pittsburgh to Pravda, Russia.
"Defense counsel has filed a motion ... publicly commenting on a matter upon which he seeks to preclude the government from commenting," wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall J. Piccinini, who opposed the gag order, which U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Paradise Baxter declined to grant yesterday.
Wells, 46, went out to deliver pizza on Aug. 28, 2003, and later showed up at a bank with a robbery note and a bomb secured around his neck. Police stopped him and discovered a series of notes explaining how to commit robberies and live through the experience. The device exploded, however, as police waited for a bomb squad to arrive.
Diehl-Armstrong is serving 20 years in state prison after pleading guilty but mentally ill in the death of her boyfriend, James Roden. In September 2003, Roden's body was found in a freezer near the place where Wells made his last pizza delivery.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
