The wheels of justice grind slowly.
A federal court jury on Monday convicted an Illinois man of detonating a pipe bomb at the downtown Salt Lake City library four years ago.
Thomas James Zajac, 56, was found guilty in U.S. District Court of six felonies involving the use and possession of an explosive device for purposes of damaging a building.
One of the counts carries a mandatory minimum prison term of 30 years. Sentencing is set for Dec. 16 before Judge Clark Waddoups.
No one was injured when the bomb exploded and damaged a window on the library’s third floor the afternoon of Sept. 15, 2006. But prosecutors claimed the bomb was capable of killing.
Investigators tied Zajac to the explosion through a fingerprint on a scrap of paper found at the scene. The paper came from packaging for a toy rocket motor.
Zajac was placed in Salt Lake City that day through phone and credit card records. He was also identified on library surveillance video.
Assistant U.S. District Attorney Richard McKelvie told jurors that the Salt Lake City bombing was similar to an explosion in Hinsdale, Ill., two weeks earlier.
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