The Wrongful Conviction of Alfred Trenkler
"Snitch Testimony"
How does anyone defend himself against egregious and totally false statements? And an even bigger question is how could the federal prosecutor's allow "informer's" to get on the witness stand and blatantly give false testimony?
"Snitch" is a bit of a misnomer being that a "snitch" or "rat" is someone that reports to the prosecution a conversation of someone that admits to a crime they actually committed. William David Lindholm was an "informer" whose prison nickname was "little stories" earned from his tendency to create myths about other inmates. An informer is a convict that makes up a story based upon commonly known information from the media to sell to the government for some type of favor, typically a reduced sentence or promise of no prosecution. The media played a huge role in Alfred's case and long before the actual court convicted him he was convicted in the court of public opinion. It's questionable if the informer's information is ever corroborated, Lindholm's never was. All that has to occur is that the "informer" had to have had physical contact with the target.
The day after Alfred was indicted he was joined by Lindholm in the Plymouth County House of Correction. Lindholm was placed in the first bunk right next to the only working phone. He had been temporarily housed in a prison north of Boston, but was "mysteriously" sent to Plymouth and may have been intentionally placed there for the explicit purpose of enabling him to extract information from Alfred. Lindholm attempted to befriend Alfred by claiming to have lived on the same street as him in Milton, Mass, and also claimed that his father went to the same schools that Alfred had attended, Milton Academy and Thayer Academy. Those claims of course were not truthful. In early 1993, while Alfred was awaiting trial, he was astounded to hear that the U.S. Attorney's office had an informant who claimed that Alfred had admitted building the bomb; that informant turned out to be William David Lindholm.
Over the course of that weekend, Lindholm would continually approach Alfred, despite Alfred telling him repeatedly he did not wish to talk about his case. The day before Lindholm was to leave the unit he told Alfred that the government was going to use the 1986 bombing to show that Alfred knew how to make bombs and therefore must have made the 1991 bomb. Alfred told Lindholm that the 1986 device was a firecracker, not a bomb. Lindholm stated he had heard it was definitely a bomb. He also said that to set a precedent the government would use the 1986 incident to prove Alfred had made the 1991 bomb, and that the government would seek the death penalty. In anger Alfred said to Lindholm, "so I built the 1986 device, I don't deserve to die or spend the rest of my life in prison for some firecracker incident." Lindholm turned that statement into Alfred telling him that he (Alfred) built the 1991 bomb and showed no remorse for the death of Officer Hurley. Again more deception from the prosecution's star witness.
Lindholm claimed that he wasn't going to be testifying in any other federal case, when asked by Alfred's defense attorney. In fact, Lindholm was listed in the media as part of the government's "dream team" of witnesses that were prepared to testify against Whitey Bolger (a member of organized crime who controlled South Boston's criminal underworld). Lindholm was a career criminal with 20 years of involvement in various crimes such as drug trafficking, income tax evasion and bank fraud. However, the prosecution presented him as a newly reformed, reliable witness. Again more deception from the prosecution's star witness.
Lindholm also stated that he had no agreement with the U.S. Attorney for any reduction of his 97 month prison sentence, should his testimony prove useful; and that he would not seek any deal with the prosecutor in the future. The prosecutor, Paul Kelly repeated the pledge to the jury that Lindholm had no expectation of a reduced sentence and that he would not ask for one. Five months later on April 1, 1994 and three weeks after the sentencing of Alfred to life in prison, Lindholm's attorney, Roger Cox asked for a reduced sentence. On July 19, 1994 Paul Kelly responded to that letter and filed a motion for a reduction of Lindholm's sentence along with an affidavit. Lindholm answered back that he understood the court is not bound to follow the specific recommendation and that it could actually reduce his sentence even further. On September 3, 1994, Judge Douglas Woodlock more than doubled that request with an order to reduce the sentence by 55 months. On September 30, 1994 Lindholm was released from prison after serving less than one-half his prison sentence. Also, the probation department was kind enough to forgive his $100,000 federal fine. Lindholm's criminal expertise had paid off. Meanwhile, Alfred's criminal history consisted of a few bounced checks and the firecracker incident (which was no longer a part of his record since it had been expunged in 1987. (See How Targeted). The government chose to release a convicted criminal early rewarding Lindholm for his lies and manipulations and in doing so taking away an innocent man's freedom.
Strangely, a father and son came forward, who were also at the Plymouth County House of Correction at that same time as Alfred and Lindholm. They recalled that entire weekend differently. They stated that Alfred ate his meals with them and was never actually alone with Lindholm to have these fictitious conversations but since their version did not fit the prosecution's story they were never called to testify. Subsequently to Lindholm's reduction in sentence a federal inmate, John J. Bowden stated that Lindholm admitted that Alfred never told him that he built the Roslindale bomb. Also, that it really didn't matter because the feds were convinced Alfred did it and he (Lindholm) was not going to pass up this opportunity to get his sentence reduced. Again this truthful statement was dismissed. The government had Alfred in their sights and would stop at nothing to convict him.
Robert Evans and Larry Plant were also convicted criminals that testified for the prosecution at Alfred's trial. Both men were in lock-up with Shay Jr, (Alfred's alleged co-conspirator), at separate times. Robert Evans, was incarcerated for a break and enter and admitted that he had a $1000/day drug habit. He testified at Alfred's trial about a conversation that he had with Shay Jr. In this 4 hour conversation Evans claimed that Shay Jr. opened up and was asking about how much prison time he would get for a murder charge as well as, how if he made bail he could flee. He also stated that he was told by Jr. that his father had disowned him 5 years ago. Evans admitted on the stand that he wanted a pardon for all his crimes and to be released on bail for his testimony (at least he was honest). Nothing in Evan's statements had anything to do with Alfred and he admitted to never having seen Alfred before.
Larry Plant had been locked up with Shay Jr. as well. Plant was first incarcerated for larceny by check, then ordering false prescriptions, then credit card misuse and then more false prescriptions. He claims to have met Jr. when Jr. approached him and introduced himself as "Boomer" and told Plant that he was the one that killed the Boston cop. Plant testified that Jr. admitted to being involved with the bombing because he wanted to get even with his dad. He stated that Jr. spoke of all the abuse he had to put up with from his father and how much he hated him. Plant claimed that Jr. said he could protect himself in prison by building another bomb with a light bulb and bleach or gasoline. Plant testified that Jr. had told him about the specific components of the bomb including magnets, where the bomb was placed and that it was remote controlled (all information that was in the press). He claims that Jr. said the detonation of the bomb was the officer's own fault (accidentally detonated because of a stray radio frequency from officer's shoulder radio). Plant stated that Jr. said he had disposed of certain materials used in construction of the bomb by placing them in a bag and dumping it into the ocean 3 miles out. This evidence was never found since it was just another story created either by Plant or Shay Jr. himself (since he loved to be the center of attention). Again there was no mention of Alfred even though it was Alfred's trial. There are no details about how Robert Evans and Larry Plant were rewarded for their testimony but if Lindholm's inducement is any indication it must have been highly profitable for them as well.
