AKRON, Ohio — Joshua Stafford, the last of five men accused in a failed plot to blow up the Ohio 82 bridge last year, ended his trial testimony at about 11 a.m., bringing an end to his defense.

Closing arguments are scheduled to begin in federal court after a lunch break.

Stafford testified this morning that he was unaware his friends from the Occupy Cleveland movement planned to blow up the bridge April 30, 2012, and that he saw the two fake bombs they planted at the bridge for the first time this week at his trial.

"I didn't know that anything serious was going to happen," Stafford told jurors. "I thought, at the most, we were going to stencil or spray paint the bridge" with graffiti.

Stafford, 24, of Cleveland, is the last of five men accused in a failed plot to blow up the bridge on April 30, 2012. The others, described by prosecutors as domestic terrorists, previously pleaded guilty to charges related to the bombing plot and are in prison. If convicted, Stafford could be sentenced to life in prison.

Stafford is acting as his own attorney, resulting in an unusual scenario in which he took the witness stand and posed questions to himself as a means of testifying on his own behalf.



U.S. District Judge David Dowd Jr. ordered Stafford to write down his questions and answers and dictate the exchange to the jury.

Dowd repeatedly chastised Stafford, asking him, "Is this a question?" and "Is this your answer?"

"Question: So at any time did you have complete knowledge that a destructive incident was supposed to happen that day? No I did not.

"Why? Because I didn't think Douglas Wright was capable of doing such things."

Wright, the ringleader of the group, pleaded guilty and is serving 11 1/2 years in prison.

Stafford said Wright often boasted of wanting to take the peaceful Occupy Cleveland movement in a violent direction, but never believed Wright would be able to obtain explosives. An undercover FBI agent sold the group two phony bombs and fake C4 plastic explosives.

"It's one thing to talk about it, it's a whole another thing to do it," Stafford said. "You don't think anyone can get a hold of explosives."

He continued: "Question: If you had heard Douglas Wright talking about doing something serious on April 30 would you have been a part of it? Answer: No, because I don't like hurting people. ... All I really wanted to do was help my friends."

Stafford confirmed that he had placed a plastic lunch box at the base of a bridge pillar, but said he couldn't see what was inside. He thought it contained cans of spray paint, he said.

"I just wanted to do some painting action, to put some art up" on the pillars, Stafford testified.

During cross-examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney Duncan Brown challenged Stafford's claims to being a peaceful person, citing two instances when Stafford was a juvenile inmate and attacked guards. Stafford explained that both attacks were in self-defense.

Stafford acknowledged one of the guards received "permanent brain damage" and the other was slashed with a sharp implement.

Stafford also acknowledged that his voice and image can be heard and seen on secretly recorded conversations captured by Shaquille Azir, an FBI informant who infiltrated the bombing conspiracy. But he denied Brown's accusations that Stafford was an active conspirator, claiming words that prosecutors attributed to him were actually uttered by Azir.

"Do you consider yourself an anarchist?" Brown asked.

"To the extent of not agreeing with the government, yes," Stafford responded.