NEW ORLEANS, June 20  Two of three mercenaries accused of plotting to overthrow the tiny republic of Dominica in the Caribbean were found guilty today of conspiracy and violation of the Neutrality Act.

A jury of seven women and five men deliberated more than 11 hours before returning guilty verdicts against Stephen Don Black, a 28-year-old Ku Klux Klan leader from Birmingham, Ala., and Joe Daniel Hawkins, 37, a longtime Klansman from Jackson, Miss. Both were found not guilty of violating five firearms statutes.

The third defendant, Michael Norris, 21, a former Klansman from Northport, Ala., was found not guilty on all counts.  Mr. Black and Mr. Hawkins could be sentenced to a maximum of eight years in prison and could be fined $13,000.  The jury received the case yesterday and spent nine hours going over evidence before recessing for the night.  Federal District Judge Lansing L. Mitchell ordered the jury sequestered.

In his instructions to the jury before the start of deliberations, Judge Mitchell said it should not be influenced by the guilty pleas of seven of the defendants’ comrades.

The defendants contended that they had been duped by the admitted ringleader, Michael Perdue, 32, of Houston, into believing that they were going to fight Communism on Dominica, an impoverished 29-by-16-mile island 300 miles southeast of Puerto Rico, and that they had the backing of the State Department. 

Plea-Bargaining Arrangement

The seven men pleaded guilty to the Neutrality Act violation in a plea-bargaining arrangement that fixed their maximum possible sentence at three years in prison and a $3,000 fine.  As part of the agreement, Mr. Perdue and most of the men testified against their comrades.

The 10-man group was arrested at a marina near here on April 27 as they were about to embark on a 2,000-mile voyage to Dominica to overthrow Prime Minister Mary Eugenia Charles and replace her with former Prime Minister Patrick John.  Among the items seized were Nazi and Confederate flags, dynamite and 30 high-powered rifles.

The plot was foiled by a boat captain who tipped off agents of the Treasury Department after Mr. Perdue tried to hire his vessel for the voyage.

Mr. Perdue testified that he promised members of the group $3,000 in cash and a percentage in a number of enterprises he planned, including gambling and a cocaine-processing plant.

Mr. Hawkins’s attorney, David Craig, portrayed his client as “a redneck, if you will, a Confederate flag-carrying son of the South who wants to fight Communism and wants to fight for his country.”

“If they want to fight Communism,” retorted Lindsay Larson, an assistant United States Attorney, “let them join the U.S. Army.”  He depicted the defendants as ne’er-do-wells out for adventure and money.
 

Source:  http://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/21/us/2-guilty-in-new-orleans-for-plot-on-dominica-invasion.html

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