TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — A man who planted and detonated a pair of pipe bombs on Florida A&M University’s campus will not be released from prison.
Thursday, Judge Hinkle sentenced Lawrence Lombardi to a combined total of 54 years among the remaining four counts.
Lawrence Lombardi was convicted for planting two pipe bombs on FAMU’s campus in 1999. Thankfully, no one was hurt but Lombardi was sentenced to life plus 39 years.
A 2019 Supreme Court decision overruled two of Lombardi’s six charges, changes his sentencing status.
Because of the change in his status, on Thursday, a federal judge was set to resentence Lombardi’s other four convictions.
Now, Lombardi's lawyers are seeking to have his sentence reduced to time served.
Lombardi was originally convicted of six counts: two counts of maliciously damaging property, two counts of using a destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence, and two counts of interfering with federally protected activities on the basis of race or color.
For the two counts of using a destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence, he faced a mandatory consecutive term of 30 years’ imprisonment on the first, and a mandatory consecutive term of life imprisonment on the second.
On the remaining four counts of conviction, Lombardi was sentenced to concurrent terms of 108 months.
In 2019, the United States Supreme Court decided United States v. Davis, 139 S. Ct. 2319 (2019), and held that part of the definition of a “crime of violence” is unconstitutionally vague.
Citing this change in the statue, Lombardi filed a collateral motion in the district court challenging his two convictions for using a destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence. Ultimately, the two convictions and the mandatory consecutive penalties accompanying them were thrown out.
