Bond Hearing Set For Chicago Man Charged With SIU Threats
BENTON, Ill. (AP) -- A Chicago man accused of mailing threats of beheadings, bombings and other violence to Southern Illinois University's Carbondale campus soon will learn if he can be released on bond.
A federal judge in Chicago ruled last week that 21-year-old Derrick Burns qualifies for bond, but she stayed her decision while prosecutors appealed. That appeal will be heard Tuesday in Benton.
Prosecutors also are asking a judge to order that Burns' mental fitness be tested.
Burns is charged with eight felonies linked to what investigators say were threatening mailings sent over a yearlong span in 2012 and last year. Prosecutors have said Burns threatened rapes, bombings and beheadings.
The FBI says most of the threatening letters suggested SIU would be targeted.
Burns' attorney has declined to publicly discuss the case.
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