Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Two Long Terms for Courthouse Bombing

SAN DIEGO (CN) - Two people were sentenced to long terms in federal prison for the May 4, 2008 pipe-bombing of the San Diego Federal Courthouse.

Ella Louise Sanders, 60, was sentenced Friday to 10 years and Eric Reginald Robinson, 44, to 11 years.

Both pleaded guilty in late 2008 to using and carrying a destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence, and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement announcing their sentencing.

"Robinson admitted that he drove Sanders to stores for the purpose of stealing pipes and end caps to be used in the manufacture of pipe bombs," prosecutors said in the statement. "Sanders and Robinson also each admitted that they assisted co-conspirator Rachelle Lynette Carlock in the May 4, 2008, bombing of the federal courthouse. Specifically, Sanders helped Carlock conceal her identity before she traveled to the federal courthouse, and Robinson drove the getaway car after Carlock detonated an improvised explosive device, which consisted of three pipe bombs containing two pounds of explosives and 100 nails. The resulting explosion caused substantial property damage to the courthouse and sent shrapnel flying for over a city block. Co-defendant Carlock was sentenced on Oct. 31, 2011, to serve 10 years in federal prison for her role in the bombing."

Donny Love Sr., whom prosecutors described as the mastermind, was convicted by a federal jury in June 2011. He will be sentenced on April 26.

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...