----- Original Message -----
From:Morrison Bonpasse
To:Letters to the Editor, Boston Herald
Cc:Jessica Van Sack, Boston Herald
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 7:46 AM
Subject: Thomas A. Shay, a wrongfully convicted man
To the Editor,
Whatever Tom Shay did at Northeastern University a few years ago, hewas wrongly convicted in Federal Court in 1993 and must not continue to be excoriated for something he didn't do.Neither he nor Alfred Trenklerhad any rolein the Roslindale Bomb that tragically killed Officer Jeremiah Hurley. See and the 700 page manuscript online for the book "Perfectly Innocent."
Shay is currently attempting to withdraw his coerced 1998 guilty plea and Alfred Trenkler is also appealing his conviction and sentence. Again, neither man had any role in the Roslindale Bomb. Ironically, the Boston Police Department was pursuing other leads in the case and was closer to the truth about the case when it was handed over to the Federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. That agency and the prosecutors of the U.S. Attorney's Office built the bizarre and distorted case against Tom Shay and Alfred Trenkler who were only acquaintances, thanks to Alfred's giving Tom Shay five hitchhiked rides in the Summer of 1991.
Your newspaper has given substantial coverage to the terrible problem of wrongful convictions, and I urge you to closely examine the Roslindale Bomb case. Not only are two innocent men wrongfully imprisoned, but the real maker of the bomb has been free for 16 years and the Hurley and Foley families have not obtained the closure they deserve. There can be no such closure at the cost of wrongful convictions of two innocent men.
Sincerely,
Morrison Bonpasse
Vice-President
Alfred Trenkler Innocent Committee
P.O. Box 870111
Milton Village, MA 02187-0111
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