Cop’s kids ask judge to deny bomber release
The son and daughter of a Boston bomb squad cop killed in the line of duty are pleading with a federal judge to remember their dad’s “sacrifice for the city.”
A judge could decide today to release Boston bomber Alfred Trenkler who is seeking a compassionate release from his Arizona prison. A video hearing is set for 3 p.m.
“Don’t forget about my father and the sacrifice he made for this city,” Leanne (Hurley) Teehan told the Herald on Wednesday.
“He’s exactly where he belongs,” added David Powell. “Keep him in jail!”
Both Powell and Teehan are the children of Boston Bomb Squad veteran Jeremiah Hurley who was killed in late October 1991 while trying to diffuse a bomb in a car in Roslindale.
His partner, Officer Francis Foley, was seriously injured that day and would never work again. They were both victims of a remote-controlled bomb “containing two or three sticks of dynamite,” the feds say.
Trenkler was convicted of the bombing along with Thomas Shay Jr.. The intended target, Thomas Shay Sr., escaped injury.
Trenkler and Thomas Shay Jr. were purported lovers, authorities have said. They alleged that Shay wanted to kill his father to retaliate for abuse and cash in on insurance money.
The bomb was placed under Shay Sr.’s 1986 Buick. It exploded as Hurley tried to dismantle it in Shay Sr.’s driveway.
Hurley, a married father of four, saved lives that day, his son said.
“The bombing was in close proximity to a school. What if it killed secondgraders? Mr. Trenkler had zero compassion,” said Powell. “Now he expects the world to feel sorry for him?”
Trenkler was sentenced to life in prison in 1994 for leaving Hurley “blown apart” and his partner “maimed” for life, the feds wrote in a motion to keep the 64-yearold behind bars.
Teehan said not a day goes by when she isn’t fearful something bad will happen — as it did all those years ago to her dad when she was just a teenager.
“If you haven’t lived through trauma, horrible, scary death, you just don’t understand. For me, it’s always what’s next? Sometimes I’m just paralyzed fearing something will happen to my three daughters,” said Teehan. “They’re forgetting about the real victim here.”
In an added legal wrinkle, the lead defense attorney is Nancy Gertner — a onetime federal judge in Boston.
Gertner, who is also an author and lecturer at Harvard Law School, states that Trenkler’s Tucson federal prison has struggled with the coronavirus. She is also claiming errors at Trenkler’s sentencing. He is also a candidate for a COVID-19 vaccine.