Neo-Nazi Set to Plead Guilty Today in MLK Terror Bomb Attempt
The man accused of planting a “weapon of mass destruction” on the parade route of a Martin Luther King Jr. unity parade in Spokane, Wash., last January is expected to plead guilty today in U.S. District Court.
Kevin William Harpham, a 36-year-old with past ties to the neo-Nazi National Alliance and the online Vanguard News Network, is expected to plead to charges that will earn him a lengthy federal prison sentence instead of life in prison.
A change of plea hearing for Harpham, a former Army ordinance specialist and unemployed electrician, was filed in court Tuesday after his public defenders and Justice Department prosecutors spent the Labor Day weekend hammering out a plea deal, it was learned late Tuesday.
The expected plea deal would come just five days before Harpham was scheduled to stand trial before a 12-member jury selected from among the generally conservative voters of Eastern Washington.