The man arrested for firebombing a New York City subway train planned a series of bombings to extort huge sums of money from the city's Transit Authority, law enforcement sources said Thursday. The sources told Reuters that Edward Leary, 49, had planned a reign of terror that included planting several more firebombs on subway trains ``to let officials know he was serious so they would pay up.''
The man accused of firebombing two Manhattan subways in 1994 was convicted Thursday after the jury rejected the notion that the drug Prozac led him to commit the crimes.
Edward Leary, 50, sat motionless as the verdicts were read.
He was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder, 14 counts of first-degree assault and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. He faces a possible prison sentence of from 35 to 105 years.
The jury, which was given the case yesterday, deliberated for just under two hours Thursday before delivering its decision.
In December 1994, Leary ignited firebombs on two Manhattan subway trains. The second blast injured 50 people -- 16 seriously, including Leary.
The defense argued that Leary was not responsible for his actions because of "toxic psychosis" caused by the Prozac.
He was acquitted of second-degree grand larceny, which stemmed from his alleged attempt to extort money from the New York Transit Authority.
An unemployed computer programmer who firebombed two subway trains faces up to 105 years in prison after a jury rejected his claims that prescription drugs drove him to commit the crimes.
Edward Leary, 50, of Scotch Plains, N.J., was convicted Thursday on 18 of 33 counts of attempted murder, assault and other charges.
Prosecutors said Leary wanted to extort money from the Transit Authority, but he was acquitted of two counts of attempted grand larceny.
The jury, which deliberated about six hours, rejected Leary's claim that a mixture of prescription drugs, including the antidepressant Prozac, impaired his ability to know right from wrong.
``I think my husband was nuts,'' said Leary's wife, Marguerite Shaller, weeping after the verdict.
Assistant District Attorney Peter Casolaro said Leary was angry about being fired from his $87,000 job and depressed over the deaths of several relatives and his adopted son's learning disabilities. He needed cash because of mortgages on properties in New Jersey and Brooklyn and other expenses.
Lawyers have presented the use of Prozac as a defense in 66 criminal court cases, but none have been successful, according to the drug's maker, Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Co.
Leary faces from eight and one-third to 105 years in prison when State Supreme Court Justice Rena Uviller sentences him April 18, said Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.
But defense lawyer Ira London said that Uviller has ``an ocean of discretion'' and could sentence Leary to a little as two to six years in prison.
``Dream on,'' Morgenthau retorted.
Leary ignited his first homemade firebomb on a subway train on Dec. 15, 1994, injuring three teen-agers, one severely. The second blast, six days later, injured 47 people, 16 of them seriously, including Leary.
The fireball in the second explosion spread through the subway car, igniting passengers' skin and clothes. Dozens of victims crawled through subway doors, leaving behind brightly wrapped Christmas presents and other belongings. Horrified bystanders helped snuff out the flames.
Police found Leary - skin burned and clothes charred - at another subway station.
At first he said he was a victim. *But shortly before trial, Leary admitted placing the bombs, claiming he was driven mad by drugs prescribed by a psychiatrist he found in a weekly newspaper ad.
Deborah Piniaz, whose daughter Rashida Brunwick, 17, was burned in the second explosion, said Leary's conviction ``didn't give me the sense of relief I thought it would.''
``There is no way you can compensate for the pain and the recovery she's going through,'' she said. ``She's in a prison of her own.''