The pair of young Austin, Texas, men who filled wine bottles with gasoline and motor oil during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul are both going to federal prison, but one will serve twice as much time as the other.
U.S. Chief Judge Michael J. Davis on Thursday sentenced David Guy McKay, 22, to 48 months behind bars -- double the sentence he gave Bradley Neal Crowder a week ago. Why? Davis ruled that McKay had obstructed justice and had not fully accepted responsibility for his actions.
The men were arrested during the convention last summer. Prosecutors said McKay and Crowder intended to use the bombs as retaliation for police seizing a trailer filled with homemade shields that protesters brought to use during demonstrations.
Crowder pleaded guilty months ago. But McKay took his case to trial, insisting that an undercover FBI informant had actually planted the idea of making the bombs.
McKay's claims that he was entrapped by informant Brandon Darby gained ground with some of the jurors at his trial. A mistrial was declared after the jury deadlocked.
But, just before McKay's second trial in March, he pleaded guilty to making and possessing Molotov cocktails. Prosecutors announced plans to call Crowder to testify, and he was expected to contradict Mc-Kay's version of events.
Call caught on tape
In arguing for a longer sentence, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Paulsen played taped telephone conversations of McKay from jail, including one in which he complained that Crowder's talking to prosecutors had derailed his chances.