Man Pleads Guilty in MLK Bomb Case

A man with extensive ties to white supremacists pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges he planted a bomb along a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade route in Spokane, Wash., targeting minorities.


Kevin Harpham, 37, reached a deal with federal prosecutors for a recommended sentencing range of 27 to 32 years in prison just days before his trial was to begin in U.S. District Court.

The pipe bomb was loaded with lead fishing weights coated in a chemical, and could have caused mass casualties, prosecutors said.
Harpham told U.S. District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush that it took him about a month to build the bomb. He acknowledged placing the device along the parade route in an attempt to commit a hate crime.

The backpack bomb was discovered by parade workers and disabled before it could explode.
“This community was terrorized on Jan. 17 when this occurred,” U.S. Attorney Mike Ormsby said after the hearing. “Hopefully the healing that needs to occur as a result of this happening can begin.”