An inmate in Georgia has been sentenced to 80 years in prison after mailing two homemade bombs to the U.S. Department of Justice headquarters and a federal courthouse in Alaska, according to court documents. The individual, Lena Noel Summerlin, 57, who was known as David Cassady at the time of the incidents, sent the devices from prison in an attempt to have her demands met by corrections officials.
Prosecutors said Summerlin demanded six days with her partner in a cell and requested numerous grocery items such as snacks, candy, and soda. A three-page list included items like peanut butter, Hostess pastries, Cheetos, Doritos, and Instant Ramen. In her note to authorities, Summerlin wrote: “If you have trouble finding an item or particular brand on this list, find something close to it and substitute.”
Summerlin is currently serving a life sentence in Tattnall County, Georgia for charges including kidnapping and aggravated sodomy. She was arrested on these charges within a year after being released from prison on another aggravated sodomy conviction from 1991.
On January 24, 2020, Summerlin mailed two bombs she had built while incarcerated—one addressed to the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in Washington D.C., and another to the federal courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska. When neither package was reported by authorities after three days, prosecutors said Summerlin attempted to send two more bombs but alerted a correctional officer that they would not fit into the mail receptacle and disclosed their contents.
Authorities were then notified and confiscated the additional devices. During questioning by federal agents, Summerlin admitted she had already mailed two “gifts,” referring to the earlier bombs sent out.
According to prosecutors’ filings: “This defendant’s devices were not only a threat to the recipients, but to every individual that unknowingly transported and delivered them,” U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling of South Carolina said.
The sentencing memo described how one package arrived at the Anchorage courthouse with wires visible inside; this prompted a clerk to hit a panic alarm and led U.S. Marshals to evacuate the building. Both bomb packages contained batteries for power supply, wiring as conductors, removable switches for ignition wires and containers filled with glass shards and flammable liquid.
Prosecutors stated: “(Summerlin) put the safety of others and lives at risk when (she) constructed these bombs and decided to place them in the mail… These two packages had to travel a great distance, almost certainly on a plane.” They added that glass fragments could cause serious injury if exploded while ignitable liquids posed additional fire risks.
Summerlin pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted malicious use of explosive material. She received two concurrent 40-year sentences for each count.
In defense statements submitted during sentencing proceedings by attorney Tina E. Maddox—who noted that Summerlin now identifies as transgender—a plea was made highlighting remorse over her actions: Maddox argued “the Defendant’s actions were not contained by a desire to harm others or terrorize institutions, but were acts of desperation born out of unrelenting abuse, hopelessness, and mental distress.” Maddox further described Summerlin’s actions as “a cry for help” intended “to expose the horrific abuses she and others endured in state custody.”
McClatchy News did not receive an immediate response from Maddox regarding requests for comment on September 23.
