WINCHESTER, Va. (AP) — A federal trial for a former Civil War re-enactor accused of planting a pipe bomb at a Virginia battlefield and threatening to disrupt other events has been set for next year. Gerald Leonard Drake, 63, had been on the docket for a jury trial in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia starting Dec. 16. A federal indictment unsealed last month accused Drake of planting a pipe bomb at Cedar Creek Battlefield, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) west of Washington, during an annual re-enactment in October 2017. His attorney, Donald Pender of Charlottesville, filed a motion last week asking that Drake be released until trial. In reality, according to the indictment, Drake was a Civil War re-enactor who regularly participated in events at Cedar Creek until he was expelled from his unit in 2014.

Source: thestar November 06, 2022 21:54 UTC