The mastermind behind the 2008 bombing of a San Diego courthouse has been sentenced to 55 years in prison.
U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Margaret McKeown called the act despicable when she sentenced 46-year-old Donny Love on Friday.
Love denied having anything to do with the plot.
Love was convicted in 2011 of 10 counts, including conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.
Prosecutors say Love arranged for the placement of three pipe bombs in front of the federal courthouse in San Diego in 2008. The blast shattered glass doors but caused no injuries.
Prosecutors say Love planned to collect a $75,000 reward by turning in one of the bombers.
Two women and a man who pleaded guilty have been sentenced to about a decade in prison.
The Supreme Court will decide when law enforcement officers must get a warrant before ordering a blood test on an unwilling drunken-driving suspect.
The issue has divided federal and state courts around the country and the justices on Tuesday agreed to take up a case involving a disputed blood test from Missouri.
In siding with the defendant in the case, the Missouri Supreme Court said police need a warrant to take a suspect's blood except in special circumstances when a delay could threaten a life or destroy potential evidence.
Other courts have ruled that dissipation of alcohol in the blood is reason enough for police to call for a blood test without first getting a warrant.
The Missouri case was one of six new cases accepted for argument in front of the Supreme Court. The new term begins Monday and the cases probably will be argued in January.
The American Civil Liberties Union, representing Tyler McNeely, said the arresting officer made no effort to obtain a warrant and didn't think he needed one, not that he feared a delay would lower the level of alcohol in McNeely's blood. The ACLU said the case was not a good one for resolving complex issues of science and law.
The final year of Robert M. Bell's tenure as chief judge of Maryland's top court began Friday, when he turned 69 in a state where the constitution requires jurists to retire at 70.
Chief Judge Robert M. Bell has served on the Court of Appeals since 1991 and has led it since 1996.
Thus, the clock has started for Gov. Martin O'Malley to name the first new Court of Appeals chief judge since 1996.
"A year out is not too early at all to be thinking of this (appointment), because others are," said Parris N. Glendening, the former Maryland governor who appointed Bell chief judge 16 years ago. "Of all the various appointments that I made, that was the one that was most intensely lobbied, discussed."
The intensity is strong because the opportunity is so rare.
The Court of Appeals has only had two leaders during the past 40 years: Bell and his predecessor, Robert C. Murphy.
