625-Pound Bomb Threat Suspect an Enormous Challenge for Court

Providing due process to a man charged with making a false bomb threat in a mobile home park is proving to be a big problem for court officials in a western Michigan county.

Bluntly put, the defendant, Jeffery Allan Klein, 44, weighs 625 pounds and suffers from obesity-related problems that his doctors say have prevented him from appearing in Kent County Circuit Court, MLive/the Grand Rapids Press reports.

Klein confessed to calling 911 on Aug. 25, 2012, and reporting that a bomb was set to go off in four hours at the Cedar Springs Mobile Estates, where he lived. When the threat turned out to be bogus, Klein said he was angry with the park management over some fines that had been assessed, Cedar Springs Police Officer Michael Stahl said.

Making a false bomb threat is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison. But because Klein has three other felony convictions, he would be sentenced as a habitual offender and face up to 15 years behind bars.

When he attempted his first court appearance in September 2012, he fell ill outside the courthouse in Grand Rapids and was transported by ambulance to the hospital. A week later, he presented medical symptoms again after a judge told him he was going to jail pending the resolution of his trial and was again taken by ambulance to the hospital, the Cedar Springs Post reports.

In the nearly two years since then, Klein has missed so many court appearances that the Circuit Court Judge Dennis Leiber finally issued a bench warrant for his arrest.

Backed by physician documentation of diabetes, back pain, COPD and other obesity-related ailments, Klein says he’s bedridden and can’t make it to court.

Even the Kent County Fugitive Task Force has declined to arrest Klein, who now lives in Grand Rapids, according to Damian Nunzio, Klein’s attorney.

Nunzio said his client is confined in a 5-foot wide bed, which would have to be moved from his home in a special ambulance and moved to the 10th floor of the Kent County Courthouse in a freight elevator – at a cost of $2,000 to $3,000 to the court, the lawyer estimates.

Arguing that the charges against Klein should be dismissed, Nunzio says hat his client’s health problems would pose a significant challenge for corrections officials, both at the county and state level.

However, Assistant Kent County Prosecutor James Benison said Klein was able to move to Grand Rapids and is able to get around when he wants, according to the report. He also questioned the defendant’s girth, noting that a November citation for defective equipment on his vehicle listed Klein’s weight at 540 pounds.

The bomb hoax is a serious offense, Benison said, but his office has offered Klein a plea agreement that would dismiss habitual offender charges.

On Tuesday, Leiber gave attorneys a Friday deadline to resolve the issue.

“This case is exceedingly old and involves a defendant who is exceedingly large,” Leiber said. “This simply cannot continue.”