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Angry tobacco farmer erupts in courtJudge flees courtroom chaos
From Terry Frieden
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The angry North Carolina tobacco farmer who threatened from his tractor to detonate explosives on the National Mall in Washington last week erupted in a federal courtroom Wednesday, forcing a federal magistrate judge to flee as marshals struggled to haul the defendant away. "I am not a terrorist. I am a freedom fighter," bellowed Dwight Ware Watson of Whitakers, North Carolina, as he was being forced out of the courtroom by security officials. The dramatic outburst came after Watson had sat quietly for nearly 15 minutes listening to a U.S. Park Police detective methodically describe the standoff that had forced the closure of federal buildings and tied up Washington commuter traffic for 48 hours. Suddenly, the preliminary hearing came to an abrupt halt. Watson leaped to his feet and began screaming. "You put us tobacco farmers out of business," Watson yelled. Much of his outburst was unintelligible to others in the courtroom. "I wanna represent myself," Watson yelled as federal Magistrate John Facciola was hustled out of the courtroom by a marshal. Referring to a package he had apparently sent, Watson said the word "germ" referred to "germination not germ warfare." Watson, a large broad-shouldered presence standing well over 6 feet tall, and a veteran of the 82nd Airborne, was not easily controlled. He was finally led away. When the dust settled, the judge reappeared and agreed to let stunned defense attorney Bravitt Manley and the police chief from Watson's small North Carolina town try to talk with Watson, who was placed in a basement holding cell in a courthouse less than a mile from where he had held authorities at bay from the early afternoon of March 17 to noon March 19. Watson had repeatedly threatened to detonate explosives as he drove his tractor around in a small pool near the reflecting pool on the Mall. During testimony in court Wednesday, Park Police Detective Todd Reid explained why Watson's threats forced the closure of streets and buildings. Organic phosphates"He repeatedly said he had organic phosphates in the yellow trailer and on his tractor," Reid said. "He said he had 82 pounds of explosives. Our bomb techs estimated if he detonated that it would have a 500- to 700-foot impact area," Reid said. During the standoff, law enforcement authorities determined Watson had military experience with anti-personnel mines of the kind he claimed to have with him that could ignite the explosives. "He said he was willing to die for the cause," Reid said, without describing the cause. "He said he wanted to bring Washington to its knees. He wanted to make a mark on the Mall that people wouldn't forget," Reid testified. Reid said officials attempted to negotiate with Watson over a cell phone for two days, but he continued to warn he was "ready to fight." Finally Watson stepped down from the tractor and surrendered. Authorities found no explosives. His actions had led to the closing of national monuments on the Mall, the U.S. Federal Reserve, a building of the Interior Department, and the offices of the Organization of American States. Hundreds of thousands of Washington-area commuters were stranded in traffic jams caused by the street closings. Watson was formally charged with making a knowingly false threat "concerning an attempt to kill, injure or intimidate an individual, or unlawfully to damage or destroy a building, vehicle or other property by means of an explosive." The charge could bring a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Watson's cause is unclear. A government official told CNN Watson appeared upset by the settlement of the lawsuit between tobacco companies and several states and by federal policies on tobacco subsidies.
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