The State - News from Dec. 4, 1987

Shaun Small, convicted of delivering a booby-trapped bouquet to his alleged homosexual lover’s estranged wife, dropped a bomb of his own by refusing to testify. Small, 27, was the key witness against Peter Pilaski, 53, a German-born engineer accused of injuring the woman with a bomb he allegedly designed and had Small deliver in a floral arrangement. Small said “no” when the bailiff asked him to take the oath before testifying in Pilaski’s conspiracy trial. Assistant U.S. Atty. John Lyons, dumbfounded, asked that Small’s response be clarified, and U.S. District Judge Robert Schnacke asked Small whether he was refusing to testify. “Yes,” Small said. The San Francisco judge immediately called lawyers in chambers, then recessed the trial until Monday.