SIMI VALLEY : Bomb Suspect Not at Scene, Counsel Says
A Moorpark man accused in the Nov. 21 pipe bombing of a Simi Valley couple could not have slipped away from his home to carry out the attack without awakening one of his house guests, his attorney said Monday.
James R. McKeever, who suffers from a herniated disc, is on trial in Ventura County Superior Court on charges of premeditated attempted murder. He is accused of throwing a pipe bomb into the Simi Valley home of John Monroe and Charlene Mayer. The bomb exploded at the foot of their bed.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. April 28, 1993 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday April 28, 1993 Ventura County Edition Metro Part B Page 6 Column 4 Zones Desk 2 inches; 44 words Type of Material: Correction
Trial testimony--An article Tuesday incorrectly reported the testimony of Harold Cronin, a witness in the bombing trial of James R. McKeever. Cronin testified that he was staying at McKeever’s Moorpark house and did not hear the defendant leave at the time he allegedly threw a pipe bomb into a Simi Valley house.
Harold Cronin, an 18-year-old Iowa man who was visiting McKeever at the time of the attack, testified Monday that he is a light sleeper and had heard McKeever move about his house the night of the bombing.
Deputy Public Defender Jean L. Farley suggested that Cronin would have heard McKeever leave the house had her client committed the bombing.
McKeever, 43, was arrested hours after the attack. His wife, Karen Dunlop, was once married to Monroe, and they were engaged in a bitter child custody battle. Deputy Dist. Atty. Donna W. Thonis already has argued that McKeever and Dunlop carried on an “obsessive campaign of harassment” against Monroe for the past four years.
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