Detroit Mosque Terror Suspect Wants New Lawyer

DEARBORN, Mich. - A California man accused of threatening to blow up a Detroit-area mosque has told a judge he wants a new lawyer, saying his current counsel "is a Shiite" and a "patron of the mosque."

Shiites are a branch of Islam.

Roger Stockham, 63, made the statements Friday during what was scheduled to be a preliminary examination on charges of making a false report or threat of terrorism and possessing explosives with an unlawful intent.

Dearborn District Court Judge Mark Somers ordered Stockham to a holding area and said he would see about getting him a new attorney.

Stockham was arrested Jan. 24 driving near Dearborn's Islamic Center of America.

Stockham had a large but undisclosed quantity of class-C fireworks including M-80s, which are outlawed in Michigan, police said.

Dearborn, located about 10 miles west of Detroit, is the capital of the Detroit area's Arab-American community, which is one of the largest in the U.S.

The Associated Press quoted a Detroit bar manager, Joe Nahhas, who said Stockham claimed to have become a Muslim after returning from the Vietnam War and was part of a group of Indonesian mujahedeen. Nahhas said Stockham could speak at least some Arabic. He called 911 to report threats allegedly made.

Stockham, a resident of Imperial Beach, Calif., has had legal run-ins dating back to the 1970s, and has twice been committed for psychiatric treatment by the courts.

In one case he kidnapped his son from a foster home in 1979 and crashed a rented Cessna plane while trying to get away.

While he was out on bail pending trial, prosecutors said he set fire to several oil storage facilities in Lompoc, Calif. He was found legally insane during his arson trial, and managed to escape from the state hospital where he was held.

Previously, in 1977 he held a psychiatrist hostage in a Century City, Calif. office building using two bombs and a pistol.

Federal authorities said in June 1985 Stockham planted a bomb in a Nevada airport garbage can, then called the Reno Gazette-Journal and the FBI to tell them about it. The device was disarmed. Stockham was convicted sentenced to concurrent 10-year prison terms.

In 2002 he was charged in Vermont with making threats against President George W. Bush and veterans officials. He reportedly called a local newspaper and described himself as "a local Muslim terrorist on a roll." Stockham pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, was suffering rom PTSD and taking medication for manic-depression.

Stockham's neighbors in Imperial Beach described him as someone who was pleasant but troubled, and who stuck to himself, though he frequented the local VFW bar.