PHOENIX (AP) — A government informant who used her good looks and feminine wiles to befriend two white supremacist brothers charged with bombing a black city official took the witness stand Tuesday in their trial, describing how the men fell so hard for her that one wanted to father her child.
The woman, identified in court records as Rebecca Williams, spent about five years talking with identical twins Dennis and Daniel Mahon, surreptitiously recording their conversations and getting them to open up about the plot with a series of provocative acts.
She moved into a trailer at an Oklahoma campground where the brothers were staying, displayed a Confederate flag and sent the men racy photos, including one showing her in a bikini top with a grenade hanging between her breasts. A pickup truck and a swastika were in the background of the photo.
She works in a motorcycle shop and was recruited by the lead agent in the bombing case to befriend the brothers in hopes that they would admit to her that they committed the bombing. Williams received $45,000 for working as an informant on the case over a five-year period and was promised $100,000 if the brothers are convicted.
Defense attorneys have criticized Williams' behavior around the Mahons and dubbed her the "trailer park Mata Hari" — a reference to the Dutch exotic dancer who was convicted of working as a spy for Germany during World War I.
Defense attorneys showed the jurors some of the photos, one of which showed Williams in a leather jacket, fishnet stockings and a thong that completely exposed her buttocks, along with a note that said, "Thought you'd love the butt shot," court records said.
Attorney Deborah Williams said that prosecutors can only prove that her client, Dennis Mahon, was involved in "a conspiracy of lust."
The brothers eyed Rebecca Williams as she walked into the courtroom for the first time Tuesday and swore to tell the truth. She wore a gray pantsuit with a dress shirt buttoned up to her neck, black high heels and had her long, dark hair pulled up.
She said that she and the brothers had sexual conversations that were mostly joking in nature, but that Dennis Mahon told her he wanted her to have his baby and made sexual advances to her one night when he stayed in her hotel room.
She said she repeatedly turned him down, and that on the night in question, she was wearing a full pajama set and that nothing happened.
The Mahon brothers, both of Davis Junction, Ill., have pleaded not guilty to the 2004 bombing of Don Logan, Scottsdale's diversity director at the time. Logan's hand and arm were injured, and a secretary was hurt.
Logan was in court Tuesday, sitting about 20 feet from the brothers.
Since the trial began earlier this month, jurors have heard recordings of the Mahons using racial epithets for black and Hispanic people and saying that violence is the only answer for white men.
Williams testified that Dennis Mahon told her about his group, White Aryan Resistance, soon after they met at the Oklahoma campground.
She said investigators had her act like a separatist who was fleeing an arrest warrant and was interested in learning about Aryan resistance and about how to make a bomb so she could use one on a child molester that she knew. But that story was a ruse designed to get the brothers to open up to Williams, who also was chosen as an informant for her good looks.
Williams lives in Arizona and testified that she has worked various odd jobs, including raising animals, waitressing, bartending, doing drywall and housecleaning. Court records say she now works in a motorcycle shop.
While Williams was on the stand, prosecutors played conversations between her and Dennis Mahon, and voicemails he left for her.
In the messages, Mahon refers to Don Logan using a racial slur and tells her that he helped Scottsdale police officers make the bomb.
"Don Logan must have a death wish," he said. "The vast majority of white officers hated that bastard's guts so maybe next time they'll splatter that bastard's innards all over the hallways."
In one conversation, Dennis Mahon is heard telling Rebecca Williams about a gun show and being able to purchase something "horrifying" that will "change peoples' minds real quick" for about $200, although he does not mention specifics.
In another conversation, he tells her to "set your targets high."
"Don't just shoot some damn Mexican — take out these politicians," he said.
Earlier Tuesday, a bomb scare disrupted the proceedings. A U.S. marshal saw a small metal container in a planter and part of the building was evacuated. No one was allowed to leave or enter the building as it was examined.
The container turned out to have marijuana inside.
Defense attorneys for the Mahons argued the incident would scare jurors and taint their eventual verdict, so they asked for a mistrial.
Judge David Campbell questioned all 16 jurors and alternates about whether it concerned any of them or would affect their decision-making. They all said no.
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