A man accused of igniting a pipe bomb outside the Colorado Springs branch of the NAACP in January was sentenced Tuesday to five years in a federal prison.
Thaddeus Cheyenne Murphy, 44, was also ordered to serve three years in supervised release for the explosion on Jan. 6.
New questions about Murphy’s motives were raised at the sentencing hearing.
In response to questions by U.S. District Judge William Martinez, prosecutor Gregory Holloway acknowledged that investigators discovered newspaper articles about the Aug. 9, 2014, police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., on a computer device Murphy owned. The shooting of the black man led to widespread racial unrest across the nation.
But, Holloway added that at the time there was a lot of news about Ferguson. “From what we were able to uncover there was no evidence of racial animus,” Holloway said.
There wasn’t enough proof to justify a tougher sentence, he added. For one thing, Murphy had placed the bomb on the side of the building where there was a barber shop and not where the NAACP offices were located.
“Are you convinced his story holds up…Nobody sets off an (Improvised Explosive Device) because someone fails to return his phone call,” Martinez asked, referring to Murphy’s claim that he targeted the building because he wanted to send a message to his accountant for failing to return his phone calls.
Holloway said Murphy’s story didn’t make sense because his accountant, Steven Douglas DeHaven, was already dead and he had never had an office at the NAACP building at 603 S. El Paso St. But he also added that there was a sign on the building referring to an accounting business that formerly was at the building.
“He also had been convicted of fraud,” Holloway said. “The explanation seemed to be a bit odd. We did the best we could to wrestle that claim to the ground. There was insufficient evidence of any kind of racial motivation. Anything beyond that is a mystery.”
Murphy’s attorney Timothy O’Hara said it would be inappropriate to speculate on the motive beyond the established facts of the case as agreed upon in the plea deal.
He explained that Murphy had been taking sleeping pills and pain pills and that his wife had called 911 and reported her husband had taken enough sleeping pills to kill himself a week earlier. Drug abuse could explain his irrational logic for setting the device, O’Hara said.
“It can leave a person groggy and not thinking clear,” he said. “Although irrational it does not mean that he lied.”
At the blast site itself, investigators found a piece of metal pipe as well as a piece of a road flare and the gas can, court records say. The gas can, which was about three-quarters full, failed to ignite. Analysis of the material recovered from the scene showed that the device used to cause the explosion and fire at the building was an improvised explosive device commonly known as a pipe bomb.
NAACP officials have said they believe Murphy was targeting the NAACP office and lied about his motive to lessen his prison sentence.
“I wanted to say that I am very sorry to the people at the NAACP and folks around there,” Murphy, who was dressed in a green prison jump suit, said. “This is not common to me at all. It’s not something I normally do. I’m a family man.”
Martinez noted that Murphy’s conviction was for his fourth felony.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, kmitchell@denverpost.com or @kirkmitchell or cold cases
