Prosecutors drop pursuit of 1 charge in Kansas bomb plot

WICHITA, Kan. – Federal prosecutors are dropping one of the charges against a man accused of plotting to bomb an apartment complex housing Somali immigrants in western Kansas.

Curtis Allen is among three men charged in the case. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted prosecutors’ request on Tuesday to end their appeal of a federal judge’s order that dismissed a firearms charge against Allen.

The judge tossed the gun charge last year after the 10th Circuit ruled in an unrelated case that a person convicted of misdemeanour domestic battery under a city ordinance could legally carry a gun.

Allen and co-defendants Patrick Stein and Gavin Wright still face charges of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy against civil rights. Wright also is accused of lying to the FBI.

Trial begins March 19.