29 QUESTIONS for RE-INVESTIGATING the ALFRED TRENKLER CASE

29 QUESTIONS for RE-INVESTIGATING the ALFRED TRENKLER CASE.

(Listed in order of estimated priority as a combination of the ease of determining the answer and the importance of the content. The most easily answered, and YES/NO questions, come first. Prepared by Morrison Bonpasse, Newcastle, ME, 9 July 2010.)

1.Did Alfred Trenkler give Michael Coady two cars, one of which was allegedly a 1977 or 1978 Ford Thunderbird as Mr. Coady testified on November 8, 1993?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Perform Mass. Registry of Motor Vehicles record checks. Also ask Alfred Trenker, as part of a lie detector test or as part of a regular taped interview; and ask Michael Coady, if he is given immunity from prosecution for perjury.)

2.Did W. David Lindholm tell fellow inmate John Bowden before his testimony at Alfred Trenkler's 1993 trial that he was going to lie and incriminate Alfred Trenkler in order to obtain favorable treatment from the Government?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Interview John Bowden, who has offered to take a brain scan, fMRI lie detector test to support the truth of his 1998 Affidavit. When John Bowden wrote that Affidavit, he had nothing to gain from its creation. In fact, he risked violence from fellow inmates for breaking the "Code of Silence." Such inmates might not have understood Mr. Bowden's view that the "Code of Silence" doesn't apply when applied to the wrongly convicted.)

3.Did Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Kelly and/or Frank Libby inform Alfred Trenkler's attorneys that they filed a motion with W. David Lindholm's trial judge, Douglas Woodlock, to reduce Lindholm's sentence in July 1994?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Ask former Asst. U.S. Attorneys Paul Kelly and Frank Libby.)

4.Did Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Kelly and/or Frank Libby inform Alfred Trenkler's attorneys that Judge Woodlock reduced Lindholm's sentence by 55 months, which led to his release from federal prison on 30 September 1994, which was 67 days before the 6 December 1994 oral hearing of Alfred Trenkler's appeal before the First Circuit Court of Appeals?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Ask Paul Kelly and Frank Libby.)

5.Did W. David Lindholm's father attend MiltonAcademy and ThayerAcademy as he stated to Alfred Trenkler in December 1992 and as he stated in his testimony at Alfred Trenkler's trial on 10 November 1993?

YES __ NO ___

(Tasks: Contact Milton Academy and Thayer Academy. See also the letters from those two academies posted in the "Chronology" section of Alfred Trenkler's website at for dates 7 and 2 March 1994, respectively. Also, contact Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island, where Lindholm's father did attend for four years prior to college at Brown University.)

6.Did Alfred Trenkler take the 9-year old Todd Leach to a Radio Shack, or any other, store to purchase parts for the 1986 M-21 Hoffman Artillery Simulator device, as Todd Leach testified at Alfred Trenkler's trial?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Ask Todd Leach's mother, Mary Ann Leach, who has stated that she never allowed her son to travel alone with Alfred Trenkler, a person she didn't know well. Ask Todd Leach's aunt, Donna Shea, who was the person who purchased the remote control car for approximately $20.00, together with Alfred Trenkler, as she testified before the Grand Jury. Ask Todd Leach, if he is given immunity from prosecution for perjury. Also ask Alfred Trenker, as part of a lie detector test or as part of a regular taped interview.)

7.Did W. David Lindholm pay the $100,000 fine in his criminal case, U.S. v. David Lindholm, Case # 90-10080-WD, as he was sentenced to pay by Judge Douglas Woodlock on August 21, 1991?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Ask the Boston office of the U.S. Probation Office.)

8.Did the U.S. Attorney's office inform Alfred Trenkler's attorneys that Thomas L. Shay, the father of Alfred's co-defendant, Thomas A. Shay, had a criminal record?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Consult the files or ask former Asst. U.S. Attorneys Paul Kelly and/or Frank Libby. In the "Proposed Investigative Plan" of 16 January 1992, Mr. Libby was designated to subpoena those records. )

9.Did the U.S. Attorney's office inform Alfred Trenkler's attorneys that Thomas L. Shay, the father of Alfred's co-defendant, Thomas A. Shay, had a Boston Police Department weapons identification card?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Consult the files. Mr. Shay's son, Thomas A. Shay, has long claimed that his father possessed guns, but corroboration of that claim was not available at the time of Alfred Trenkler's trial.)

10.Did the U.S. Attorney's Office provide to Alfred Trenkler's attorneys a copy of the report of the 17 November 1991 re-enactment of Thomas L. Shay's car travel on Sunday morning, 27 October 1991 and a copy of the videotape of that re-enactment?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Consult the files. The report was disclosed by the Boston Police Dept. in June 2009 in response to a FOIA request, but the videotape referenced in that report was not in the collection of FOIA disclosed items, and was never given to the defense; and is apparently missing.)

11.Did the U.S. Attorney's Office provide to Alfred Trenkler's attorneys the 25 May 1992 report of a second analysis of fingerprints on Mr. Thomas L. Shay's car which had been performed, in which report it was stated that more fingerprints had been found, and that all those fingerprints had been compared to those of Alfred Trenkler's, and Thomas A. Shay's prints and that there had been no matches?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Consult the files. In the documents disclosed by the Boston Police Dept. in June 2009 in response to a FOIA request, there was a 25 May 1992 report of further analysis done of the fingerprints on Mr. Shay's car. The previous report, which was provided to the defense, of 17 fingerprints contained no analysis of the owners of those prints. The undisclosed 25 Mary 1992 report analyzed 24 fingerprints and compared them to the prints of 10 people including the defendants, and there were no matches to the defendants. This report would have been significant to the jury. One of jurors who wrote to Judge Zobel, Marcia Lapson, stated that "The jury did not learn that finger prints were found on the underside of Shea [sic] Sr.'s car or whether they were identified." Please note that she was writing only about the earlier report of the 17 fingerprints, which she learned about in the manuscript, Perfectly Innocent; but she was not aware of the 25 May 1992 report of the analysis of 24 fingerprints because she wrote her letter to Judge Zobel before the FOIA disclosure of June 2009.)

12.Did the U.S. Attorney's Office provide Alfred Trenkler's attorneys with a copy of the transcript of the 8 June 1992 interview with Derrick Massey, the roommate of Dennis Owens, in which transcript Massey stated, inter alia, "At that point in time Dennis slammed the phone down, eh, he was upset.He had stated that, eh, he was going to blow up the fucking cop that arrested him. Eh, Mr. Corbett at this time said, 'How are you going to do it? Are you going to do it in the same way that you did in the Shay case?' He said, 'No, this time this one's going to work. This bomb is going to work....."

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Consult the files.)

13.Did the Office of the U.S. Attorney provide Alfred Trenkler's attorneys with a copy of Detective Francis Armstrong's 23 page journal of his work on the case from 22 January 1992 to 19 February 1992 in which journal was a report of his otherwise unreported interview, together with Detective Brendan Craven, of Mr. Thomas L. Shay's next door neighbor, Julia O'Connor?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Consult the files. Detective Armstrong's journal was among the documents disclosed after a Freedom of Information request to the Boston Police Dept. in 2008/2009.)

14.Did the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms ever possess and/or analyze parts of the 1986 Quincy M21 Hoffman device, which were previously possessed by Quincy detective Thomas Tierney, who investigated the 1986 device?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Consult the files. In detective Francis Armstrong's journal, referenced above, he stated,"met with Policeman Tom Tierney who has parts of the original Trenkler bomb which will be forwarded to Washington via ATF.")

15.If the Bureau of ATF did possess and/or analyze such parts, did the Office of the U.S. Attorney disclose that information to Alfred Trenkler's attorneys?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Consult the files.)

16.Did the Office of the U.S. Attorney provide Alfred Trenkler's attorneys with a report about a conversation that Mr. Thomas L. Shay had with a neighbor, the apparent source of the information, on the Sunday afternoon before the Monday, 28 October 1991 Roslindale Bomb explosion?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Consult the files. The information about this conversation was revealed in the ATF "Updated Investigation Plan" of 9 March 1992, disclosed after a Freedom of Information request to the Boston Police Dept. in 2008/2009. The plan stated, "Neighbor spoke to him [Thomas L. Shay] late Sunday afternoon in his driveway but he didn't mention to her finding suspicious object (only a few feet away) - - Shay Sr. denies this meeting."

17.Did the Office of the U.S. Attorney provide Alfred Trenkler's attorneys with a report that Mr. Thomas L. Shay had been asked about, and denied, the reported conversation with a neighbor, [see above question], on the Sunday afternoon before the Monday, 28 October 1991 Roslindale Bomb explosion?

YES __ NO ___

18.Did the Office of the U.S. Attorney disclose to Alfred Trenkler's defense attorneys its knowledge of Mr. Thomas L. Shay's 1984 automobile collision lawsuit against H.W. Marshall Company for $850,000, which was dismissed in 1987?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Consult the files. Alfred Trenkler's and Thomas Shay's attorneys had been provided information about Mr. Shay's several lawsuits, but not about this one.)

19.Did the Office of the U.S. Attorney disclose to Alfred Trenkler's defense attorneys a report of a 15 January 1991 report of an ATF interview with Thomas A. Shay's friend, Russell Bonnano in which Mr. "Bonnano stated that Shaynever spoke about anyone named Trenkler, and he never mentioned that he knew who the bomb was intended for or who actually placed it underneath his father's car."?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Consult the files.)

20.Did Alfred Trenkler take Michael Coady on trips to California and Florida and skiing in New England as Mr. Coady testified on November 8, 1993?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Ask Michael Coady for details of those alleged, but fictitious, trips, if he is given immunity from prosecution for perjury. Did they fly to California and Florida? Did Alfred Trenkler rent a car on each trip? What did they do on those trips? Where did they eat? What sights did they see? Did they see anyone else on those trips who could corroborate Mr. Coady's claims?)

21.Did the destruction of some of the evidence in Alfred Trenkler's case, including the layers of black electric tape with possible DNA on them, occur after the Office of the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts received a copy of Alfred Trenkler's 1 December 2005 letter to Judge Rya Zobel about the claimed illegality of his life sentence, a claim with which she later supported by court order?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Consult the Alfred Trenkler case files.)

22. Was the toggle switch used in the Roslindale Bomb, as identified by the switch contacts found amidst the debris, and identified at Alfred Trenker's trial as a Radio Shack 275-602 switch also available from several worldwide sources, other than Radio Shack?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Contact Radio Shack and also the original Chinese manufacturer, Shin Chin, of its R13-2 toggle switch. That same switch was even marketed by Radio Shack in a different 3-in-1package: 275-322.)

23.Have there been any other cases in the history of the United States where five or more jurors in a Federal Court criminal case have written to the trial judge to disavow their verdict?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: This is hard to verify, but a request to all the Offices of the U.S. Attorneys in the country about juror communications to trial judges in recent and current cases will determine part of the answer. Legal historians may assist with the rest of the answer.)

24.Did Alfred Trenkler consider Thomas A. Shay a friend? Did he know anything about Tom's relationship to his father? Did he know anything about Tom Shay's father's lawsuit against the Dedham Street Garage?

To all questions: YES __ NO ___

(Task: Interview Alfred Trenkler, who, despite questions in asides during the investigation, has never been formally interviewed by the Government. He has also agreed, as he initially agreed in November, 1991, to take a lie detector test for any of his claims of innocence and his claims of truth. Also ask Thomas A. Shay who was recently released from prison, and who prepared a 109 point Affidavit just prior to that release, which proclaimed his innocence, and that of Alfred Trenkler. He also volunteered to take an fMRI brain scan lie detector test, but the results of that test were inconclusive because he apparently misunderstood the instructions about the initial "basis" or "foundation" set of questions. Still, he did volunteer for such a test, and has stated that he is willing to take a traditional polygraph test upon his return to Massachusetts in November or December, 2010.)

25. Did Thomas A. Shay purchase any items at the Massachusetts Avenue Radio Shack on 18 October 1991?

YES __ NO ___

(Task: Ask Thomas A. Shay who was recently released from prison, and who almost simultaneously prepared a 109 point Affidavit proclaiming his innocence, and that of Alfred Trenkler. He also volunteered to take an fMRI brain scan lie detector test, but the results were inconclusive because he apparently misunderstood the instructions about the initial "basis" or "foundation" set of questions. Still, he did volunteer for such a test, and has stated that he is willing to take a traditional polygraph test upon his return to Massachusetts in November or December, 2010.)

26.If W. David Lindholm did not pay the $100,000 fine referenced above, who authorized the change to Judge Woodlock's sentence?

______

(Task: Ask the Boston office of the U.S. Probation Office.)

27.If W. David Lindholm did pay that fine, when was it paid?

______

(Task: Ask the Boston office of the U.S. Probation Office.)

28.Who was the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent who wrote the ATF's 16 January 1992 "Proposed Investigative Plan" and the 9 March 1992 "Updated Investigative Plan" for the Roslindale Bomb cases, in which the ATF was seeking to assume the primary investigative role.

______

(Task: Ask ATF agents still working in the Boston office of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, who worked on the case in 1991-1992.)

29.The 16 January 1992 "Proposed Investigative Plan" stated that Mr. Thomas L. Shay was one of the three primary suspects in the Roslindale Bomb case and that his story was "inconsistent." The 9 March 1992 "Updated Investigative Plan," strengthened that view by stating that Thomas L. Shay had told an "inconsistent, largely unbelievable story." In view of the ATF's increasing suspicion of Mr. Thomas L. Shay through March 1992, what was it that later led the ATF to later view his statements about the Roslindale Bomb as consistent and believable and that led the Office of the U.S. Attorney to present Mr. Shay as a prosecution witness?

______

(Task: Interview the members of the ATF team which investigated the Roslindale Bomb cases, in particular the writer of the "Proposed Investigative Plan" and the "Updated Investigative Plan.")

Page 1 of 8 Proposed initial questions for Re-investigation of Alfred Trenkler case 12/8/2018