Sentencing delayed for man tied to library, train station bombings

SALT LAKE CITY -- A federal sentencing hearing for the suburban man convicted of bombing the downtown Salt Lake City library has been delayed until next year.

U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups canceled the Thursday hearing and reset it for Feb. 28, 2011, after Thomas J. Zajac filed an appeal of his case with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

A jury convicted the 57-year-old Downers Grove, man of six felony charges in October for the 2006 explosion that knocked out the library windows.

The most serious charge — using a destructive device in a crime of violence — calls for a minimum of 30 years in prison.

During the trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Benson said Zajac drove 1,500 miles from Illinois to Utah to detonate the homemade bomb on the library's third floor because he was angry over the 2004 arrest of his son, Adam Zajac, by Salt Lake City police. Benson said Zajac claimed responsibility for the library bombing in an anonymous letter to police that threatened other bombings.

Thomas Zajac was arrested one month after the bombing at his home. Investigators said they found his fingerprint on a price tag from a Hobby Lobby store on a piece of cardboard to which the bomb was attached.

Court papers show the bomb was made with an igniter, galvanized pipe, a 9-volt battery and a 60-minute kitchen timer. It was stuffed inside two white paper bags from a fast-food restaurant.

Zajac is also facing federal charges in Illinois for the alleged bombing of a suburban commuter train station in Hinsdale, about two weeks before the Utah bombing.

A hearing in that case was also scheduled for Thursday in Illinois.