Man who mailed bomb to Clinton gets wish for life prison sentence

Robert Macy

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2000 | 9:17 a.m.

A 53-year-old man who pleaded guilty to mailing pipebombs to President Clinton and a Texas evangelist has been given the life prison sentence he requested.

Frank Darwin Alexander received the sentence Tuesday, five months after pleading guilty to sending pipebombs to Clinton, evangelist John Hagee and a federal agent here.

The one addressed to "W.J.C., 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" exploded in a postal truck in Washington, D.C. The one destined for Hagee at the Cornerstone Ministries in San Antonio, Texas, exploded in the Dallas Bulk Mail Facility. The third pipebomb was found in a bus station here and did not explode.

No one was injured in the two explosions.

U.S. District Judge David Haugen Tuesday sentenced Alexander to life in prison plus 39 years, without the possibility of parole.

"Given what this guy has done, that sentence seems entirely appropriate," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Connell, who prosecuted the case.

Alexander did not comment during his brief sentencing hearing.

But he made it clear in pleading guilty last September that he wanted to spend the rest of his life in prison.

He said he could not see serving 40 years, then "coming out and living on the streets" when he would be 93.

Alexander was charged with attempted murder, mailing injurious articles and use of a firearm in a crime of violence.

O'Connell said the devices were powerful enough to have killed the recipients or anyone nearby. The prosecutor said he did not know why the devices detonated early, instead of when the packages were opened, as planned.

Alexander was charged with attempted murder of a government employee because he mailed a pipebomb to a Las Vegas agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The device was found in the downtown bus depot here, where Alexander had left it to be mailed.

All the incidents occurred in March, 1999.

O'Connell said in a hearing last spring that Alexander told investigators he admired Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and serial mail bomber Theodore Kaczynski.

Alexander, a native of San Antonio, Texas, was living in Morgan City, La., when he mailed the Texas and Washington, D.C. devices.

He was arrested here on March 28 when he called the Southern Nevada Mental Health Institute to report he had sent bombs through the U.S. mail to the president and the evangelist.