Lindenwood University student gets probation for drunken bomb threat

A St. Louis woman was given probation for phoning a bomb threat to Lindenwood University, where she was a student, because she didn't do her homework. Lori L. Knight, 39, who had pleaded guilty earlier to making a terrorist threat, was placed on five years probation on condition she stop drinking and undergo psychological and substance abuse counseling, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Tuesday. She also is to have no contact with the school. Knight called Lindenwood's main switchboard last May and told the operator her "brother" planned to bomb the campus. She called back 2 hours later to ask if classes had been canceled, saying her "niece" had heard of the bomb threats. Police traced the calls to Knight and arrested her later in the day. At her sentencing hearing Monday, Knight said she had consumed two-fifths of vodka the night before and hadn't prepared her classwork. She wanted to cancel classes so she could drink more. Lindenwood's attorney, Eric Stuhler, said the call occurred about two weeks after the Boston Marathon bombings and had traumatized students and staff on the campus. He asked for Knight to be given jail time. Tim Braun, Knight's attorney, argued she had done nothing to carry out the threat and that the university didn't notify students of the threat until after Knight was arrested. Circuit Judge Rick Zerr agreed to put Knight, who spent 30 days in jail prior to her guilty plea, on probation.