Sentencing delayed in Indian-origin doctor bombing case in US

Randeep Mann, who was found guilty in August this year of masterminding the bomb attack that disfigured and partially blinded Arkansas State Medical Board Chairman Trent Pierce, was scheduled to be sentenced on December 10.

Defence attorney Blake Hendrix filed a motion yesterday asking for more time to prepare for the sentencing. He had also said that he and other members of Mann's defence team have other trials that conflict with the scheduled sentencing.

US District Judge Brian Miller today granted Mann's request and delayed his sentencing until February. 52-year-old Mann faces up to life in prison and USD 1.7 million in restitution for the February 2009 bombing outside the West Memphis home of Pierce.

Mann has been accused of seeking revenge on the state medical board that repeatedly disciplined him. Mann's wife, Sangeeta, is also seeking a delay for her sentencing, which is scheduled for December 8.

She was convicted of obstruction of justice and faces up to 20 years in prison. A federal jury had convicted Mann of using a weapon of mass destruction and destroying a vehicle with an explosive in the February 2009 attack.

A federal firearms dealer, Mann was also convicted of illegally possessing 98 grenades and a machine gun. The bomb was made from a spare tyre from a Nissan Altima and prosecutors said a friend and business partner of Mann's had an Altima from which the spare was missing when federal agents had executed a search warrant.

A friend of Mann's had also testified that the doctor repeatedly said members of the Arkansas Medical Board needed to suffer like he suffered. Pierce had led a panel that sanctioned Mann after complaints he was over-prescribing pain pills to known drug addicts.

The board had revoked Mann's right to prescribe narcotics after complaints that 10 of his patients overdosed and died. At the time of the bombing, the board was investigating whether Mann continued to prescribe controlled substances, despite the revocation of his Drug Enforcement Agency permit to do so.