By JAMES MITCHELL
Sunday Times Newspapers
TRENTON — A U.S. District Court trial for a man accused of placing bombs in the city is expected to continue tomorrow after being in recess over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
U.S. District Court information officer Rod Hansen said the government’s case against John Robert Kennedy could conclude this week in Ann Arbor before Judge John Corbett O’Meara.
Prior to the start of last week’s testimony, Kennedy pleaded guilty on two of six weapons and explosives charges stemming from April 2011. Prosecutors said that Kennedy placed two bombs in the city — one in a high school parking lot and another on Van Horn Road — and made a telephone bomb threat to the high school.
Investigators from Trenton police, Michigan State Police and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives traced the phone threat to a disposable device purchased in Woodhaven.
Prior to the trial start, Kennedy pleaded guilty to possession of explosive materials and to being a felon in possession of ammunition. Kennedy’s attorneys, Penny Beardslee and Todd Shanker, stipulated to his criminal history that includes five convictions dating back to 1991.