Court Orders Resentencing for IRS Bomber

A federal appeals court ruled Monday that self-confessed Internal Revenue Service bomber Dean Harvey Hicks must be resentenced for the violent sprees that terrorized IRS employees in Laguna Niguel, Los Angeles and Fresno between 1987 and 1991.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 3 to 0 that U.S. District Judge Laughlin E. Waters did not sufficiently explain why he sentenced Hicks to a longer sentence than indicated by federal sentencing guidelines. Hicks pleaded guilty in 1992.

The guidelines for four of the five counts indicated a sentence of 63 to 78 months, but Waters sentenced Hicks to 10 years, the maximum provided by law.

Hicks, an electrical engineer, pleaded guilty in 1991 to four counts of using a destructive device against a federal facility and one count of trying to impede the IRS. The 46-year-old Costa Mesa man admitted his role in six separate incidents, including a five-round mortar attack on the Chet Holifield Federal Building in Laguna Niguel. He later planted a pipe bomb on a power pole nearby.

Hicks also fired mortar rounds at federal offices in Los Angeles and unsuccessfully tried to bomb federal offices in Fresno. No one was injured in any of the attacks.

U.S. Circuit Court Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain wrote that Waters apparently relied on “the terroristic nature and the potential destructiveness of Hicks’ behavior,” which was proper, but not sufficient, for the sentence. If Waters wants to impose such a sentence, O’Scannlain ruled, he must provide a more detailed explanation.

In addition, the appeals court asked Waters to clarify the discrepancy between the 20-year sentence he pronounced from the bench and the 30-year sentence contained in his written decision.