Man who drove up from Oklahoma to attempt to blow up the Satanic Temple in Salem will get 5 years; guarantees to by no means do it once more

A Boston federal choose immediately sentenced an Oklahoma man who drove 1,600 miles in his Volvo to wage holy warfare on Satanists in Salem with a do-it-yourself pipe bomb to 5 years in jail.

US District Court docket Choose Indira Talwani additionally sentenced Sean Patrick Palmer, 49, to 3 years of probation for his responsible plea to 1 depend of utilizing an explosive system to break and try to break a constructing utilized in interstate or international commerce. 

Early on April 8, 2024, after a visit from Perkins, OK by way of Randolph and Lynn, Palmer parked close to the Satanic Temple headquarters in Salem, bought out and ignited a two-foot-long part of PVC pipe filled with smokeless gunpowder and coated with nails taped to it. He then tossed it on the constructing. However it solely fizzled somewhat than exploded. 

He bought in his automobile and drove again to Oklahoma, the place he was arrested 9 days later.

Prosecutors and his lawyer each agreed 5 years can be a simply punishment for his failed bombing run.

In his sentencing memorandum urging Talwani to not sentence Palmer to greater than 5 years, Palmer’s lawyer painted an image of a person who had spent a lot of his life falling aside, beginning as a toddler with an abusive, alcoholic father who would typically throw him towards furnishings and persevering with into maturity, when he grew to become an alcoholic himself, in addition to a pothead. Unable to finish faculty, he married an evangelical pastor who, after three years left him, saying she not beloved him, inflicting solely extra psychological trauma, his lawyer, Brendan Kelley, wrote 

Devastated, Mr. Palmer returned to Oklahoma and continued holding out hope that his spouse would return. His now ex-wife started looking for a divorce in early 2024, shut in time to his fee of the offense on this case. Mr. Palmer’s mom recounts vital deterioration in Mr. Palmer’s psychological well being and more and more disturbing signs as soon as divorce proceedings began and laments him not receiving an antipsychotic prescription then.

After which he by some means heard concerning the Satanic Temple, and, effectively, whereas not justification for what he did, he noticed the Satanic Temple as true satan worshippers, not the atheist and humanist group its founders say it’s, Kelley wrote, including that even anyone in a transparent state of mind would have issue ferreting that out from the group’s Web page.

In sum, he acknowledges he knew on the time what he was doing was improper, however nonetheless felt “Elohim” calling him to “…struggle crybaby Devil, however need me to make onerous effort so nobody dies.”

In any case, Kelley continued, after his arrest, Palmer found salvation by way of anti-psychotic medication. 

Following his incarceration on this case, Mr. Palmer was prescribed and accepted remedy to deal with his vital psychological well being diagnoses.  These drugs have helped his pondering in a method not current within the early morning hours of April 8, 2024. Mr. Palmer needs to proceed to have interaction in psychological well being therapy upon his launch and by no means once more return to confinement.

In his personal sentencing memorandum, assistant US Lawyer Jason Casey urged Talwani to not scale back Palmer’s sentence to lower than 5 years.

It was solely by sheer luck that the bomb malfunctioned and didn’t totally detonate. TST, subsequently, was spared vital injury. … 

No matter his motive, the dangerousness of the defendant’s conduct can’t be overstated. That TST didn’t incur devastating injury owes extra to pure luck – and maybe additionally the defendant’s novice bomb making expertise – than it does an absence of intent by the defendant. This alone warrants weighty punishment. The truth that the defendant’s crime was deliberate and preplanned and that he purposely sought to keep away from detection solely provides its severity. A sentence of 60 months is adequate, however not better than obligatory, to account for the seriousness of the defendant’s crime, to adequately punish the defendant, and to advertise respect for the legislation. The necessity for common deterrence additionally can’t be overstated. TST has been the unlucky goal of quite a few different threats and vandalisms (though nothing as critical as Palmer’s assault).