Jury finds bungling bomber guilty

In a verdict likely to challenge Pennsylvania's law defining a "weapon of mass destruction," a Philadelphia jury Thursday found a Germantown artist guilty of that crime in a May incident in which he blew off most of his right hand with a homemade explosive.

The Common Pleas Court jury of 10 women and two men deliberated about 21/2 hours before returning the verdict against Douglas Ferrin, 55.

Ferrin, who spent about six months in prison for blowing up the toilet in a Phoenixville bar in 2011, did not appear to react to the verdict.

His lawyer, A.J. Thompson, however, unsuccessfully moved to vacate the verdict because Ferrin's "firecracker" did not hurt anyone but himself.

Judge Michael Erdos denied the motion but agreed that the state law seemed ripe for a challenge before the state Superior Court.

"If a weapon of mass destruction can't cause mass destruction, then what are we talking about?" Thompson asked afterward.

Erdos ordered a presentence and mental-health evaluation for Ferrin before his sentencing April 10.

Assistant District Attorney Lisa Nichols said Ferrin faces a likely prison term of 12 to 18 months under state sentencing guidelines.

But Thompson noted this conviction violates Ferrin's probation in the 2011 Phoenixville case, and he now also faces 21/2 to 5 years in prison there.

In three days of testimony, the jury heard Ferrin described as an eccentric, talented painter who was obsessed with making his own explosives.

Thompson called the case against Ferrin "silly" and told the jury his client's homemade "firecrackers" were not weapons of mass destruction.

Describing Ferrin as "dumb" and a "goofball," Thompson asked the jury in his closing argument Thursday: "What is the commonsense verdict in this case? It shouldn't take that long.

"Are these bombs or are they a dangerous hobby - dangerous to him?" Thompson asked.

Ferrin, at his lawyer's request, waved the stump of his right thumb and his pinkie - the three middle fingers were blown off - at the jury.

Neighbors called police to Ferrin's home on West Queen Lane near Greene Street at 4 a.m. on May 7 and found the artist outside, stunned and maimed. Neighbors told police that they were regularly shaken by explosions from Ferrin's house.

A search of the house yielded the makings of several devices from cardboard tubes and a plastic medicine bottle as well as a booby-trapped desk drawer.

Nichols told the jury in her closing that Ferrin's homemade explosives met the legal definition of a weapon of mass destruction. She said the Phoenixville incident - Ferrin was booted by a bartender - showed he was not above using his bombs against others "who crossed him."

Nichols cited the testimony of Ferrin's neighbor, who said the explosions terrified her.

"No one is calling the defendant a terrorist," Nichols said, "but his neighbor was terrified."