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Divorce woes lead to threat
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Vol. 84 No. 60
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By Gens Gentrap
Bi!y Nebraska Eerier Exporter
A man apparently troubled over hte
divorce threatened to detonate what he
slid was a bomb Thursday in a court
troom in the County-City Building.
A man authorities identified as Joe
Eastman walked into the office of
Kathleen Scheer, a court reporter for
County Judge Dale Fahrnbruch, shortly
after 11:30 am. and demanded to speak
with a judge. Scheer said Eastman told
her how his divorce case 1V4 years ago
"cost him his life." According to Scheer,
Eastman told her "I will die again today
because IVe taken 100 pills and if that
doesn't work the explosives wilL"
Eastman then walked into the District
No. 5 courtroom, Scheer said.
About that time, Chief Deputy Merl
Hesser and Deputy Sheriff Mike Novacek
entered the courtroom and identified
themselves to Eastman.
"He said he would explode the bomb
and that it contained six to eight ounces
of plastic explosives attached to a radio,"
Hesser said.
The fourth floor of the building was
immediately evacuated, Hesser said, and
shortly thereafter all occupants of the
building were asked to leave.
Jerry McGinn, Lincoln Fire Prevention
Bureau Chief and a close friend of East
man's, then entered the courtroom and
joined in negotiations with Eastman.
McGinn said Eastman indicated he was
"very unhappy" with the judges and
demanded to see County Judge Robert
Camp. Camp presided over Eastman's
divorce trial last year.
"He was very ups'et about the way the
divorce had been handled, about his
rights to see his children, and with the
party seeing his ex-wife," McGinn said.
"He had the intent of taking his life and
he said he wanted the judge to see him die
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in the front of the courtroom either by
the sleeping pills he said he had taken or
by the explosives.
"He promised he would negotiate if he
could speak to the judge (Camp) on the
phone," McGinn said. "At that point I made
a move at him and he moved toward me.
"Then he said, '111 give you the package
when I get a chance to sit down and I see
the judge walk in the chamber.' "
The three then told Eastman he could
see Deputy Sheriff Terry Wagner, who
was posing as a judge.
McGinn said Eastman wanted only a
chance to tell "his story," a chance he
claims he didn't get during the trial.
Wagner entered the room, approached
the bench, and told Eastman if he would
hand the bomb over to McGinn, he would
listen to Eastman for 10 minutes.
Eastman agreed with Wagner, turned
to McGinn and said, "this isn't a bomb, it's
an AM-FM clock radio." McGinn said .
Eastman set the radio on the floor and
McGinn picked it up and pulled the radio
out of the sack.
"I had no doubt before I pulled it out
that he was telling the truth (about the
clock radio). We didn't see the real Joe
Eastman today," McGinn said.
Eastman then was arrested and taken
to Lincoln General Hospital to check if he
had indeed taken a large dosage of pills.
He was later transferred to the Lincoln
Regional Center, Hesser said.
McGinn said that before the divorce,
Eastman had been a good parent, a good
husband, and always asked, "what can I
do to help?" The divorce really hurt him,
he said. McGinn said Eastman had moved
to California shortly after the divorce.
"I told him that he was a good man,
that everybody has problems and that his
children love him very much and that
sometimes these things happen.
"It was his day in court after court,"
McGinn said.
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Judge overrules motion
to dismiss Douglas jury;
wiH decide location today
By Brad Gilford
Daily Netraskan Staif Reporter
Lancaster County District Judge
Cheuvront Thursday overruled a
defense motion to dismiss the 24
selected jurors in the triai of
Attorney General Paul Douglas
and will decide Friday whether to
grant another defense request to
move the trial out of Lancaster
County.
- Defense Attorney William Mor
row said 15 of the nearly 300
prospective jurors summoned
may not be properly registered
voters in Lancaster County. Three
of those in question are among
the selected 24-member group
that will be vhittled to form the
final 12-member jury.
All jurors are required by law
to be registered voters of the
county where the trial occurs.
Morrow said Wednesday that
some of the 24 prospective jurors
are biased against Douglas and
may have lied to be chosen.
Morrow based his motion for a
change of venue on the results of
a study that he said confirm that
Defense aide Lin LiSey conduct
ed the study by interviewing Lan
caster County residents on the
telephone. Between 48 and 70
percent of the respondents were
biased against Douglas, accord
ing to the survey.
"It would be impossible to ran
domly select a jury panel that
would not be contaminated with
prejudicial jurors," Lilley said.
Morrow has been working to
move the trial since the proceed
ings began. He motioned in a
pretrial conference with Cheuv
ront and Special Prosecutor Kirk
Naylor to move the proceedings
outside Lancaster County, but
Cheuvront rejected the request.
Morrow said Wednesday that
the number of jurors who dis
qualified themselves in the selec
tion process by reason of precon
ceived opinions against Douglas
has "got to make you stop and
think."
The 24 people selected to form
the jury arrived as instructed in
the morning, but were let go as it
became evident that the motions
would consume most of the day.
Thursday had been targeted as
the last day of jury selection. The
trial was expected to begin Fri
day, but now probably has been
delayed until Monday.
Continued on Pae 7
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