The attorney for a Turner man who faces five years in federal prison for blowing up a soda machine said Saturday the penalty “is way out of proportion for the nature of the crime.”

On Friday, Jonathan Poland, 20, was convicted in a federal court in Portland of blowing up a soda machine two years ago with a pipe bomb at Murray’s Truck Stop in Turner.

Poland pleaded not guilty, Sharon said, but a jury found him guilty.

The official charges are possession of a unregistered firearm or explosive device, and use of an explosive device to destroy interstate commerce property. Because the Coca-Cola machine at the truck stop was deemed part of interstate commerce, the penalty is harsher and carries a minimum five-year sentence, Sharon complained.

“This is a symptom of the federal government criminalizing crimes that normally would be a state crime,” Sharon said. If the case were tried in a state court, he said, there would not any minimum mandatory sentence. The judge would be free to use his or her discretion to reflect the nature of the crime, Sharon said.

“I understand there was an explosive device and people might be injured,” Sharon said. But the case is of an 18-year-old charged with blowing up a soda machine in the middle of the night, where no one was injured, he said. “The penalty outstrips the crime tenfold.”

“I can’t appeal the sentence, but we’re going to aggressively pursue the failure of the lower court to suppress his confession,” Sharon said.

There were two confessions from Poland, Sharon said. One was taken by police in Poland’s yard, another after he was arrested. In the first confession, Poland wasn’t given his Miranda rights. In the second sufficient evidence to arrest him was not introduced, Sharon said.

/////According to federal prosecutors, a truck stop employee found the vending machine destroyed on the morning of March 20, 2004, as reported by the Portland Press Herald Saturday. A pipe bomb was detonated within 20- feet of four gas pumps and 50 feet from a propane tank, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Darcie McElwee.

Poland did not become a suspect until he tried to buy fertilizer with the potential power of 20 pounds of TNT. “This young man was on his way to make something more serious than a pipe bomb, McElwee said in court Friday, according to the Press Herald.

/////On Saturday, Sharon disagreed with a prosecutor, who, according to a report in the Portland Press Herald, said Poland hadn’t been a suspect until he tried to buy fertilizer with the potential power of 20 pounds of TNT.

“We dispute that he attempted to buy fertilizer. That is what drew attention (to Poland), at which point he made a confession. He did not try to purchase fertilizer before the arrest,” Sharon said.

At the time that the soda machine was blown up, Poland was a high school senior. He was arrested in April of 2004, then released on bail.

While on bail, he’s lived with his parents under federal control, Sharon said. “He hasn’t been any trouble to anyone. He started college, has been working, and just had a baby last week.”

Poland will likely face a presentencing hearing investigation and report within six weeks to two months, Sharon said.