Raymond Geoffrion trial: Opening statements given in pipe bomb case

Raymond J. Geoffrion, accused of making a destructive device, held a pipe bomb in one hand and a lighter in the other while threatening to kill sheriff’s deputies as they entered his Cusseta Road apartment to arrest him, a bomb technician testified on the first day of his trial.

The case against Geoffrion, 59, began today in Muscogee County Superior Court. Chief Assistant District Attorney Alonza Whitaker told jurors during opening statements that Geoffrion had missed a court date, and deputies went to his 4443 Cusseta Road apartment on Aug. 31, 2007, to speak with him. A box of high-powered gun shells near a window and Geoffrion’s refusal to leave the apartment made authorities think he might have weapons, and they decided to use force to enter the home, the prosecutor said.

Muscogee County Sheriff’s Cpl. Bruce Williams testified that he talked with Geoffrion for at least an hour before other deputies arrived.

“They hit the door — Bam! Bam! — and discovered it had at least four locks on it,” Whitaker said. “In one hand, he had a cigarette lighter and in the other hand he had a pipe bomb. He was threatening to kill them all. ‘I’ll blow us all up.’”