Trial Set in Bank Heist

The trial date for two suspects arrested in the Harvard Square attempted armored-car robbery in early March has been set for June 5, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston.

Keith A. Leahy and Brendon F. Smith, both from the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, now face federal charges of interference with commerce by means of robbery and use of a firearm during a violent crime.

The suspects' attempted robbery of a Brinks armored car delivering cash to the Bank of Boston on Mass. Ave. was foiled March I when a Brinks guard opened fire, wounding Leahy in the arm and Smith in the head and neck. The guard was not wounded.

The suspects, who were taken into custody immediately, each originally faced six state charges, including assault with intent to murder and armed robbery while masked. The maximum penalty for the charges is life imprisonment.

But the state surrendered its control over the case in late March, and the U.S. Attorney's office, part of the federal Department of Justice, has assumed direction of the case.

"The U.S. Attorney's office intervened by way of complaint," Middlesex Co. Assistant District Attorney Adrienne C. Lynch, the original prosecutor for the case, said last week. "The cases regarding the defendants are in federal district court [now]."

"While each were [at first] charged with state offenses, the Feds took over jurisdiction of the case," Lynch said.

Officers from the FBI's bank robbery task force re-arrested Leahy and Smith in Boston on March 23. Both were ordered held without bail by Chief Magistrate Judge Lawrence P. Cohen, and the pending state charges were dismissed.

Although the state charges carried the possibility of life imprisonment, the federal offenses fall under some mandatory sentencing guidelines, according to Lynch.

Also, the FBI is the only government agency capable of conducting inter-state investigations. The bank shooting case was originally thought to be possible linked to an earlier shooting in New Hampshire, but no direct connections have been found.

The shooting case has been assigned to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sheila W. Sawyer and Timothy Q. Feeley, the chief of the major crimes unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office. Sawyer said last week that the trial date may be pushed back from June 5 because of motions filed by Smith's attorneys.

The search for a third suspect, who may have been the getaway car driver and who fled down Dunster St. as the shootout occurred, has not produced any arrests, according to FBI Special Agent Peter S. Ginieres. "There are no new developments," Ginieres said yesterday.