Perfectly Innocent - The Wrongful Conviction of Alfred Trenkler

On 28 October 1991, Boston Police officer, Jeremiah Hurley, Jr. was killed, and his partner, Francis X. Foley, was maimed, by a dynamite bomb which they were attempting to disarm at the home of Thomas L. Shay of Roslindale, Boston. Their losses were terrible and intolerable, and those responsible must be apprehended and punished. In the subsequent investigation, Alfred Trenkler was targeted because he had met Shay's son, Thomas A. Shay, (referenced in many government and court papers as "Tom" and "Shay, Jr.") within five months of the October bombing, and because five years earlier he had assembled a harmless noisemaking prank device in Quincy in 1986 for a friend. Alfred was convicted in Boston Federal Court in 1993 and sentenced to two life terms. Alfred W. Trenkler had nothing to do with the Roslindale Bomb. He had no motive to harm anyone. At the time of the bombing, he was successfully operating a high tech communications business consulting, designing, installing and servicing terrestrial and satellite microwave studio transmitter links for television, public service two way radio trunking and paging systems, had no debts, and had no need for additional money, and knew nothing about Tom Shay's father who was in the middle of a $400,000 lawsuit. Alfred was convicted because of a "perfect storm" of mistakes by investigators, prosecutors, Alfred's defense counsel and a few lies in court. Alfred filed a motion for a new trial before the United States Appeals Court as a result of the recent discovery of evidence withheld by the government, but the motion was denied. He is simultaneously seeking a re-investigation of the case by the Boston Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and explosives (BATFE) and/or the U.S. Attorney's office.