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    I'm pretty sure that by making such devices, you'd ipso facto be in violation of terrorism statutes.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Commented Sep 25, 2015 at 0:17
  • 2
    @feetwet It's at least conceivable you'd face murder charges if an officer dies. Since the penalties for murder are somewhat higher than the penalties for contempt of court, I doubt a real criminal would be swayed by a court order when they're willing to risk murder charges. Police departments really handle these situations with bomb squads, not court orders.
    – cpast
    Commented Sep 25, 2015 at 6:46
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    @feetwet I'm not sure what you mean by "no one against whom they can escalate." A trapped property is a serious risk to the public (including emergency responders who might need to respond to an incident there); even if it weren't, police have a warrant, so are quite entitled to do whatever is necessary to allow the search. Honestly, I don't think they'd trust you to help, given that you intended to possibly kill police with it. And the bomb squad is really trained as a more general "hazardous device squad."
    – cpast
    Commented Sep 25, 2015 at 14:16
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    And just to be clear: The government can never compel you to help with anything. They can only punish you for refusing to help. But the punishment for a deadly device going off and killing a cop during a lawful search, where the device was intended to kill the cop, is generally either life in prison or death. The punishment for not helping when a court tells you to is being jailed for a while. Someone not deterred by the former isn't very likely to be deterred by the latter.
    – cpast
    Commented Sep 25, 2015 at 14:18
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    Found it: Donald Lee Morse - Granted, he didn't post warning signs, but the danger involved in proceeding should have had become obvious by the time bomb squad was called.
    – JimmyB
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 9:29