A Brooklyn man who refused to testify about the 2008 bombing of a Times Square military recruitment center went to jail on Tuesday, where he may wind up staying for the next 18 months. Gerald Koch, a 24-year-old self-described anarchist, first refused to answer questions from a grand jury in the case in 2009, and reiterated that position last week. After Koch refused to answer any questions on Tuesday, Judge John F. Keenan ordered him remanded to Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center (two stars on Yelp) for an indefinite period of time. “The judge added that Mr. Koch could remain in jail for 18 months, or for as long as the grand jury was empaneled,” the New York Times reports. But he can get released if he decides to testify.
Koch is not a suspect in the bombing but prosecutors think he might have heard something about who was behind it in a bar in 2008 0r 2009. Koch says he heard no such thing, and wrote on the Jerry Resists website that “they are engaged in a ‘fishing expedition’ to gain information concerning my personal beliefs and political associations.” He’s promised to refuse to testify “for the duration of this grand jury,” so he may get to know the inside of the Metropolitan Detention Center pretty well. His website has a stopwatch running to time his stay. Seven hours and counting so far.
