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Senior Testifies in Hate Trial

McGaffigan said Chase’s main concern with Felton was that he was already married—not that he was planning bomb attacks.

Chase and Felton are charged with conspiring to bomb a Jewish or black landmark in Boston, passing counterfeit bills and obstructing justice. Felton is also charged with bank robbery and with illegal possession of a handgun.

In his opening statement, Merritt said Felton and Chase were “terrorists.”

The defense told the all-white jury that they should look at the facts of the case and not jump to conclusions because of defendants’ white supremacist beliefs.

Public defender Timothy Watkins, who is defending Chase, said that his client was drawn into a plot that Felton organized, and that she did not fully understand the plan.

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“Is this the case of a wild-eyed terrorist who knowingly and willingly signed on to everything Leo Felton was thinking and doing?” Watkins asked the jury. “Or is this the case of a young woman caught up in a powerful personality?”

After finishing her testimony on Wednesday, McGaffigan said she was relieved to be finished with the process.

“I’ve been testifying for so long,” she said outside the courtroom. “It’s good to have it finally over.”

When reached at her grandmother’s Needham home, McGaffigan declined to comment on the case.

“I kind of want to keep quiet right now,” she said.

Staff writer Stephanie M. Skier can reached at skier@fas.harvard.edu.

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