On the eve of his sentencing, the man who pleaded guilty to planting a bomb at the Nederland police station to avenge a decades-old murder is now claiming he never intended to kill anyone. But prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office aren’t buying it.
David Michael Ansberry, 66, pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of attempting to ignite a weapon of mass destruction. Ansberry, who stands 3-foot-6 and was a member of the traveling hippie group STP Family in the early 1970s, is set for a two-day sentencing hearing starting Wednesday.
While the pre-sentence report and Ansberry’s response to it are not being made available, a response filed by the prosecution that was posted publicly indicates Ansberry is asking for a lighter sentence, claiming the bomb was designed to only scare people and was a dud that “could never have exploded.”
But prosecutors are asking for a 27-year prison sentence, saying the bomb was capable of exploding and could have killed people if it did.
“(Ansberry) is a sophisticated, calculating, and culpable offender who risked killing public servants indiscriminately to indulge his 40-year-old grudge and send a message to police,” prosecutors wrote.
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