With bomb threat trial delayed, former Pitt student looks for a new beginning

The United State Attorney’s Office is considering dropping charges against a former Pitt… The United State Attorney’s Office is considering dropping charges against a former Pitt student indicted for making bomb threats to campus in April 2008.

Louisa Nkrumah, who is accused of calling in threats to the Cathedral of Learning and Posvar Hall, asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office to consider her for the Pre-Trial Diversion program.

“Participants who successfully complete the program will not be charged or, if charged, will have the charges against them dismissed,” according to the U.S. Attorneys’ Manual, which advises federal prosecutors.

People participating in Pre-Trial Diversion work with the U.S. Probation Service to create a program aimed at fulfilling their needs for employment, counseling, education, job training or psychiatric care, among other things, according to the attorneys’ manual.

Nkrumah has been conditionally accepted to Penn State Harrisburg, which her attorney, Cynthia Reed Eddy, believes would allow Nkrumah to “complete a semester of college and demonstrate her good behavior in a manner that could have a positive impact on her request to be admitted to the Pre-Trial Diversion program,” according to court documents.

District Judge Nora Barry Fischer extended Nkrumah’s deadline to file pre-trial motions by four months, to December 28 to give Nkrumah and her lawyer “reasonable time necessary” to prepare for a trial, should one occur. Federal attorneys can not set a trial date until after the deadline for pre-trial motions.

Workers in Reed Eddy’s office said the lawyer was out of town and could not be reached for comment. In the past, Reed Eddy has declined to comment, saying all communication between her and her clients was confidential.

Spokespeople for the U.S. Attorney’s Office and for Penn State Harrisburg could not be reached immediately for comment.

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