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CNN Saturday Morning News

Luke Helder Appears in Iowa Courtroom

Aired May 11, 2002 - 07:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now back to our top story.

Luke Helder returned to the scene of the mailbox crime, so to speak, last night. He appeared in an Iowa courtroom and heard the first of several charges against him in a five-state bombing spree.

CNN's Jeff Flock reports from Cedar Rapids.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): No smiling or smirking from Luke Helder as he made his way up the back stairs at the U.S. courthouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and shuffled to a waiting car a week to the day after mailbox bombs began exploding across the Midwest.

It was a sharp contrast to the almost laughing Helder the night he was arrested in Nevada.

In a short court appearance, signs too that it is all beginning to hit home for the 21-year-old Wisconsin college student. He said nothing to magistrate John Jarvey (ph) as the judge read the two counts against Helder, which could land him in prison for life.

He asked for and got a court-appointed public defender. Jane Kelly (ph) entered and left court without saying what she had in mind for a defense.

(on camera): Some of the legal experts we talked to say Helder's best hope for a defense is to strike some sort of deal with prosecutors, arguing that up until now, he's had no criminal record and, as he allegedly told a police officer who stopped him for speeding as he drove cross country, "I never meant to hurt anyone."

(voice-over): Though some suggest that if it is true Helder was trying to paint a smiley face on the U.S. map by planting bombs, it suggests a possible insanity defense, experts say that would be hard to prove.

No comment either from U.S. attorneys in Cedar Rapids, the first of at least three sets of federal prosecutors lining up to prosecute Helder, whose day began with a trip by plane from Nevada back 1,500 miles from Reno to Cedar Rapids, to near the scene of the worst of the bombings. He will be held for now here in the Lynn (ph) County Jail. Helder's next court date is May 22.

I'm Jeff Flock, CNN, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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