Judge orders release of LV man in church bombings

Greg Tuttle

Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2000 | 9:45 a.m.

A federal judge has ordered a Las Vegas man released from a mental hospital four months after he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity for a string of failed attacks on Mormon churches.

U.S. District Judge David Hagen said James Carbullido has recovered from a drug-induced mental illness that he claimed drove him to plant homemade bombs at nine Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints locations. But Hagen also ordered Carbullido to undergo a strict regimen of outpatient treatment.

Hagen also required monthly reports detailing Carbullido's progress and the results of random drug tests.

Carbullido, 45, entered the plea of not guilty by reason of insanity in March after experts for both the government and defense attorneys diagnosed him as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. The plea resulted in his commitment to a federal mental health hospital in New York.

At a July 24 hearing, Carbullido's defense attorney said he should be released because doctors determined he no longer suffers from the mental illness they said was triggered by a severe addiction to methamphetamine.

Prosecutors argued Carbullido is still dangerous and should be evaluated again before being released.

Carbullido was arrested last year after a string of homemade bombs were found at Mormon churches in the Las Vegas Valley. Two of the crude bombs made from milk jugs and gasoline caused some smoke damage, but the rest failed to ignite and no one was injured in any of the incidents.