Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Suspect in Pipe Bombing Reconsiders His Plea Deal : Law: The Monrovia man faced a four-year term after pleading no contest to two charges. His sentencing is delayed.

Three weeks after agreeing to a plea bargain that would have landed him in state prison for four years, Charles Edwin Smith, accused of exploding a pipe bomb under his ex-wife’s unoccupied pickup truck, is reconsidering the deal.

It’s a decision that could cost him 20 years behind bars.

“He wanted to think about withdrawing his plea, a lot of people do,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Smalstig. “It’s called buyer’s remorse, basically.”

Smith, 70, was to be sentenced Tuesday, but that was delayed until July 22 at his request. In the meantime, Smith, who lives in Monrovia, remains in custody.

To withdraw the plea, Smalstig said, Smith would have to show legal cause, such as lacking adequate mental capacity at the time he entered into the deal.

On June 7, Smith pleaded no contest to felony use of a destructive device with intent to cause injury or destruction and also one count of stalking in violation of a restraining order.

In exchange for the plea, which called for Smith to be sentenced to four years in state prison, three other felony charges against him were to be dropped.

If Smith is convicted of all five of the counts--including explosion of a pipe bomb beneath his ex-wife’s motor home, making terrorist threats and possessing the materials to make a destructive device--he could face 20 years in prison, according to his attorney, Michael C. Eberhardt.

“There was a lot of evidence against him,” said Eberhardt earlier this month when Smith accepted the plea bargain. “At his age he didn’t want to risk (a sentence of) 15 to 20 years.”

Eberhardt did not return repeated telephone calls Tuesday to explain why his client may want to try to get out of the plea.

Even if he sticks with the plea bargain, Smith could face additional prison time if he is charged and convicted of arson in a 1993 fire that broke out in a Chatsworth condominium owned by his ex-wife, Rini Duzanne. The investigation in that case is continuing.