Criminal Justice Quote: High School Mother Denies Bomb Threat

     The mother of a high school student pleaded not guilty on February 6, 2015 to charges she threatened to blow up her daughter's school over a failed exam…Karen Shearon, 48 of Staten Island, New York, denied making the call…The judge freed her on $1,000 bail on the charge of second-degree misdemeanor aggravated harassment….

     Shearon allegedly threatened a guidance counselor at Susan Wagner High School on February 4 after she received a call that her daughter had failed a Regents exam. Students in New York state have to pass the Regents exam to graduate from high school.

"Mom Allegedly Threatens To Blow Up School," Associated Press, February 7, 2015 

Criminal Justice Quote: Bottle Bomb Injures School Bus Driver

     On November 3, 2014, classes at Emily Dickinson Elementary School in Richmond, Washington were canceled after a two-liter bottle exploded in the parking lot, injuring a bus driver…The explosion happened at eight in the morning. No students were on campus at the time of the incident.

     Police Sergeant D. B. Gates said the bottle was filled with a volatile substance and exploded as the bus driver walked past it. The driver was hit by something that came out of the bottle. There is also a second adult who may have been exposed to fumes. Both were taken to a nearby hospital.

     Nothing was found when the King County Police Bomb Squad swept the school. As a precaution, a nearby school was closed and another placed in a modified lockdown.

"Explosion in Washington Elementary School Parking Lot," Fox News, November 3, 2014 

Criminal Justice Quote: Man Who Bombed His In-Laws Sentenced

     A Tennessee man pleaded guilty on August 5, 2014 to killing his elderly in-laws with an explosive device disguised as a lamp. Richard Parker, 50, who had owed his father-in-law money before the killings was sentenced to life without parole at a hearing in Lebanon, Tennessee…He had pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of retired attorney Jon Setzer, 74 and his wife Marion Setzer, 72…

     Jon Setzer died on the scene of the February 2014 explosion at his Lebanon home while his wife died a few hours later at Nashville Hospital. Parker had placed a bomb in a lamp, put it in a box with a FedEx label and left the package on the Setzers' porch…

     Parker had owed his father-in-law a substantial amount of money…There was no evidence that Mr. Setzer had pressed Parker about the loan.

Tim Ghianni, "Tennessee Man Pleads Guilty to Killing In-Laws With Exploding Lamp," Reuters, August 4, 2014 

Criminal Justice Quote: Man Accused of Mailing Bomb to Sheriff Joe Arpaio

     Federal agents have arrested an Oklahoma man accused of mailing a package bomb last year addressed to Joe Arpaio, the controversial Arizona [Maricopa County] lawman who calls himself "America's toughest sheriff."…

     Gregory Lynn Shrader, 55, is suspected of dropping off the parcel, filled with gunpowder and other materials at a U.S. Postal Service mailbox in Flagstaff, Arizona, but the package was intercepted by state authorities before it reached Arpaio….The device was rendered harmless by the police.

     Shrader was arrested in March 2014 and is being held without bond at the Tulsa County Jail, where he is awaiting release to the custody of U.S. marshals….He was charged in a criminal complaint with one count of willfully making a threat through the U.S. mail. Arpaio has drawn criticism for his aggressive stance on illegal immigration. He was the subject of a U.S. Justice Department probe over his office's treatment of HIspanics and has been scrutinized for housing county inmates in a Spartan "Tent City" jail. He has also been the subject of multiple threats of violence….

Laila Kearney, "Man Charged With Mailing Package Bomb to 'Americans Toughest Sheriff'," Associated Press, March 12, 2014 

Criminal Justice Quote: Retired Tennessee Lawyer Killed by Home Package Bomb

….Bewildered residents in rural Tennessee are grappling with fear and confusion as they try to understand why someone would send a bomb to a neighbor. Retired lawyer John Setzer, 74, died Monday February 10, 2014 after "an unknown package exploded," the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said. Neighbors said the Lebanon, Tennessee blast was so powerful it blew out windows and damaged several rooms of the Setzer's house….On the Setzers' quiet rural street, neighbors were terrified about whether a bomb might arrive in their mailboxes….[If I were conducting the investigation, I would look for disgruntled men whose wives this attorney represented in divorce cases.]

Holly Yan and Dave Alsup, "Package Bomb Kills Retired Lawyer in Tennessee," CNN February 12, 2014