SPOKANE, Wash. – A federal hate crime case in Spokane took an unexpected turn this week. The man accused of planting a bomb along the city’s Martin Luther King Day parade route changed his plea to guilty. Evidence had been mounting against Kevin Harpham, regarding ties to white supremacist groups and to the bomb itself.

In the federal court in Spokane, 37-year-old Kevin Harpham was visibly thinner than when he was arrested last March. At that time, the former Army soldier from rural northeast Washington pleaded not guilty to charges that he placed a pipe bomb on a downtown bench in Spokane.

This time in court, he changed his plea to guilty.

The federal judge asked Harpham if he understood the plea bargain his attorneys had reached with federal prosecutors. It specifies between 27 and 32 years in prison, and supervision for the rest of his life. Harpham said yes, he did understand.

The judge also asked Harpham point-blank if he had intended to cause bodily injury with the explosive device because of “actual or perceived race, color and national origin” of people in the parade. Harpham said yes, he did. The judge asked Harpham how long it took him to construct the pipe bomb. Harpham said about a month.

Outside the federal courthouse, U.S. Attorney Michael Ormsby told reporters he’s proud he grew up in Spokane but he’s also well aware of the legacy of white supremacists in this part of the region.

“Unfortunately, hate crimes are prevalent everywhere,” Ormsby said. “But the terrorism that we’re concerned with most in the Inland Northwest is what we call domestic terrorism and that’s terrorism that occurs from within.”

At the hearing, prosecutors pointed to several pieces of evidence they intended to use at trial: hundreds of posts Harpham made to a Neo-Nazi web forum under the name “Joe Snuffy”; DNA found on the handle of the backpack that stored the bomb; and records that he bought 130 fishing weights. Prosecutors say they were fashioned as shrapnel in the pipebomb.

Across town at the New Hope Baptist Church, the Rev. Happy Watkins had just heard the news about Harpham’s guilty plea.

“I’m satisfied that justice is done,” he said.

Last January, Watkins delivered Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in Spokane, right before the parade started. The procession was diverted after city workers found the bomb.

Watkins says Spokane’s African-American community is ready to close this chapter.

“The trial, had there been a trial, could have gotten off,” he said. “And now he’ll spend some time in jail and hopefully there’ll be some rehabilitation.”

A federal judge is now reviewing the plea bargain. He’s appointed a U.S. probation officer to talk with Harpham and write a report on his motivation for the crime.

The judge is due to set Harpham’s final sentence at the end of November.

On the Web:

“Suspect In Spokane Bomb Case Used Pseudonym To Express Neo-Nazi Views” – April 4, 2011

http://api.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=134474168

“Who Is Kevin William Harpham?” by the Southern Poverty Law Center

http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2011/03/10/the-spokane-bomb-attempt-who-is-kevin-william-harpham/

Copyright 2011 Northwest News Network

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