Man accused in anthrax mailing

CINCINNATI -- Jury selection started Monday for a man accused of mailing fake anthrax letters to abortion clinics nationwide and robbing banks in two states.\nClayton Lee Waagner, 45, is representing himself for his Cincinnati trial on federal firearms and stolen car charges, but did not speak in court Monday as the judge questioned a pool of 60 potential jurors.\nThe federal charges in Cincinnati are separate from the federal investigation into whether Waagner mailed more than 550 anthrax hoax letters -- including some to several Indiana clinics.\nAmong other questions, U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott asked jurors whether they owned firearms or believed "that violence against abortion clinics equates to Osama bin Laden and the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States."\nOpening statements were scheduled for Tuesday, and Dlott said she expects the trial to last three days.\nWaagner was arrested in suburban Springdale Dec. 5, about 10 months after he escaped from a jail in Illinois where he had been awaiting sentencing on separate federal charges.\nWaagner pleaded innocent in March to a six-count indictment charging him with illegally possessing a handgun and a rifle as a fugitive and as a convicted felon; possessing a stolen handgun; and possessing a stolen car. If convicted, he could get 15 years to life, plus fines of up to $250,000 on each count.\nAfter his arrest here, Waagner was sentenced Jan. 25 in Urbana, Ill., to 30 years in prison for interstate transport of a stolen vehicle, illegal possession of a firearm and the Illinois jail escape.\nFederal authorities have said Waagner claimed responsibility for sending the threatening letters to about 280 women's reproductive health clinics in October and November. He has not been charged in that case yet.\nIn media interviews, Waagner has said he did not intend violence but wanted to scare clinic operators with the hoaxes.\nThe federal government also has charged Waagner with bank robberies in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, a car theft in Mississippi and possession of a pipe bomb in Tennessee.