Investigators at the home of Michael O'Neill
Michael O'Neill, an upstate New York man who lost a leg when one of his seven homemade bombs went off in his garage, had
a collection of racist memorabilia:
Here's more evidence prosecutors are revealing -- raising questions about whether O'Neill is a racist? Prosecutors say O'Neill, who's a former Niagara County corrections officer, was found with Nazi posters, Confederate flags and other divisive items in his garage.
"Depiction of a certain Ku Klux Klan symbol or picture, it also included a picture of the founder of the Ku Klux Klan, Nathan Bedford Forrest," Hochul said.
"We don't know the import exactly of what these sort of inflammatory items might've mean only to say that they were in the immediate vicinity," said Jack Alsup, an assistant U.S. Attorney.
A federal judge has ordered him to be turned over to
federal custody when he gets out of the hospital:
U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Hugh B. Scott rejected a defense attorney request Wednesday that Michael C. O’Neill be placed under his mother’s supervision in a rental apartment as he recovers. The location of O’Neill’s detention will be determined by the U.S. Marshals Service.
Michael O'Neill lived in a house with his mother and stepfather, Niagara County Legislature Chairman William L. Ross. Although they've denied any knowledge of Michael's activities in their garage, a judge isn't buying it:
The judge said he couldn’t understand how O’Neill’s activities in the garage remained unknown.
Michael O'Neill has pled
not guilty to possession of an unregistered destructive device. His lawyer maintains he was building the bombs to
"blow up tree stumps."
Video report from WIVB: