Woman gets prison time for throwing explosive into home in fight over dad’s ashes

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    LINCOLN, Neb. (Lincoln Journal Star) — A 36-year-old Lincoln woman who blew up her former landlord’s front window in December, upset she wouldn’t return the woman’s father’s ashes over back rent, was sentenced to prison for it Tuesday.

The blast sent glass and debris across the street and caused extensive damage, Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Jeremy Lavene said at April Holmes’ sentencing.

He said the victim told him it was a “stupid mistake,” she wasn’t hurt and didn’t want Holmes to go to prison over it.

Holmes said she was sorry for what she did.

“I knew it was wrong,” she told the judge.

On Dec. 17, a 53-year-old woman was in her home in the 600 block of West Saunders Avenue just before 2:20 p.m. when an M-class explosive broke through the front window, according to police.

She ran out of the home and wasn’t injured.

But the explosion caused $15,000 damage to the home and shook nearby businesses, police said.

Holmes later pleaded guilty to using explosives to damage property.

On Tuesday, her attorney, Trevin Preble, said Holmes desperately wanted her father’s ashes back and she did everything she knew to get them back. He said the last thing she was told was if she were lucky, she would get the ashes fed back to her “in a pan of brownies.”

“None of this is an excuse, obviously, for what Miss Holmes did,” he said. “She knows that we are lucky that no one was seriously hurt or even killed.”

But, he said, it does provide some context. Holmes was hurting and desperate when she did it, Preble said, arguing for probation.

Lancaster County District Judge Andrew Jacobsen said placing a bomb in an occupied building rates right up there with discharging a firearm at an occupied building.

“It’s just a recipe for disaster,” he said.

Based on the nature of the crime and that Holmes was considered a high risk to reoffend, Jacobsen said, probation was not appropriate.

And he sentenced Holmes to 2½ years in prison, plus 18 months of post-release supervision. She’s already served nearly six months.

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