MLK Bomb Plot: Attacker's Plea Withdrawal Request Is Denied By Court

MLK Bomb Plot: Attacker's Plea Withdrawal Request Is Denied By Court: An Army veteran with extensive ties to white supremacists was sentenced to 32 years in prison Tuesday for planting a poison-laced bomb along a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade route in what he said was meant to be an attack against the cultural diversity celebrated by the event.

Kevin Harpham tried unsuccessfully to withdraw his earlier guilty plea just before receiving the maximum punishment from U.S. District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush, who said the previously law-abiding Harpham seemed to be influenced by a "shrill and caustic and vitriolic" culture fueled by talk media.

Harpham told the judge: "I am not guilty of the acts that I am accused of and that I plead guilty to." He said he only agreed to the deal in September to avoid a possible life sentence.