1999 SLAYINGS Court upholds the conviction of pipe-bomb killer

The woman murdered was carrying the convicted man's child, tests showed.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A federal appeals court ruled that circumstantial evidence was enough to convict a man of killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend and 3-year-old daughter with a pipe bomb.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Joseph Minerd's 2002 conviction and life sentence for the New Year's Day 1999 blast that destroyed the Connellsville townhouse of Deana Mitts, 24, and her daughter, Kayla.
Mitts was seven months pregnant when she died. Prosecutors said Minerd, 49, of Bullskin Township, Fayette County, killed her because she would not have an abortion. DNA tests later showed the unborn child was Minerd's, though he had denied he was the father.
In his appeal, Minerd argued that federal prosecutors lacked any physical evidence linking him to the explosion and there were no witnesses who saw him near Mitts' home before the explosion.
Ruling
In a ruling issued Monday, Judge Theodore McKee agreed that the evidence prosecutors used was "entirely circumstantial" but wrote "it is also entirely compelling."
"The evidence was circumstantial. That is not surprising given the destructive force of a fire bomb and the difficulty of gathering direct evidence following an explosion and fire," Judge McKee wrote. "Nevertheless, the patient, careful and thorough investigation that followed gathered sufficient circumstantial evidence" to convict Minerd.
Minerd has not yet decided whether he will appeal, said his attorney, R. Damien Schorr.
The explosion was initially believed to be caused by natural gas. But federal agents uncovered evidence that pointed to Minerd, including receipts from a hardware store where he reportedly bought the pipe to make the bomb, gunpowder at his home, and neighbors who said they heard explosions near his home in the months leading up to the blast. Minerd was also an experienced machinist, prosecutors said.
Evidence
The appeals court noted that Minerd admitted to a police officer that he wanted Mitts to have an abortion and she refused. Prosecutors also introduced evidence that Minerd repeatedly drove by Mitts' home and followed her home from church. One of Minerd's co-workers testified that Minerd talked about getting a stun gun so he could use it to shock Mitts into a miscarriage.
Minerd also tried to have his conviction and sentence overturned on a technicality, claiming he should not have been convicted under a federal arson statute. Minerd argued that Mitts' apartment wasn't used for interstate commerce and that the statute only applies to someone who blows up or burns down a building for financial gain.
The appeals court turned away those arguments.
Minerd is serving his sentence in a federal prison in Lewisburg.