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On January 17, 2011, a radio-controlled, shaped pipe bomb was found and defused in Spokane, Washington along the route of that year's Martin Luther King Jr. memorial march. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the bomb was a "viable device" that could have sprayed marchers with shrapnel and caused multiple casualties; it also contained rat poison to prevent bleeding wounds from coagulating. [1] According to the FBI, the bombing may have been racially motivated, and its timing was likely not a coincidence. [2] The New York Times said that the bomb had been reported to police at roughly 9:25 AM that morning. [3]
The bomb was found in a Swiss Army brand [4] backpack that also contained two T-shirts. One of the shirts mentioned a rally against cancer in Stevens County, Washington, while the other mentioned a 2009 play put on by students at Chewelah, Washington high school (also in Stevens County). [5][6][7] The FBI has offered a $20,000 reward for any information leading to the capture of those responsible. [2] Police sent bomb-sniffing dogs, a robot, and specially trained officers to the location where the bomb was found. [3]Following the defusing of the bomb, the backpack was sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation laboratory in Quantico, Virginia for further analysis.[7] According to the Rev. Percy "Happy" Watkins, most people at the march did not know about the bomb threat at the time it happened.
The Saturday after the bombing attempt, another rally celebrating Eastern Washington University's football team was planned, which would go past the same spot where the bomb was found. The plans for that march were not changed even after the bomb was discovered. [8]
In February a possible lead was discovered; a woman who owned a bookstore discovered a piece of paper with anti-Semitic and anti-African American messages hidden in a book about the 2008 United States presidential election. The paper also included a list of dates, some of them crossed out. As of February 2011, research on the bomb still had not been completed; this is because the bomb was wrapped in numerous layers of duct tape which are slowly being peeled back to look for hairs, fibers, or fingerprints. [9]
On March 9, 2011, the FBI arrested Kevin William Harpham, 36, of Addy, Washington, in connection with the bombing attempt. Harpham allegedly has ties to the National Alliance, a white supremacist organization.[10]
On May 3, 2011, Harpham's lawyers requested a four-month delay in the defendant's federal trial for attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. The defense contends that their client faces up to life in prison, so they need more time to prepare. Harpham had pleaded not guilty, and remained in jail without parole from the time of his arrest. [11]
On May 20, 2011, U.S. District Judge Justin Quackenbush agreed to delay Harpham's trial until August 22, 2011. Documents made public revealed the bomb had a "welded blast plate" and contained shrapnel. The shrapnel was further combined with an anticoagulant rat poison apparently intended to prevent any resulting wounds from clotting.[12]
On September 14, 2011, Harpham pled guilty to setting the device [13].
On December 20th, 2011, Kevin Harpham was sentence to the maximum allowed, 32 years in prison. [14]