UKIAH— A defendant who planted a pipe bomb under a kitchen sink in an attempt to inflict injury on his wife in August 2018 was sentenced to seven years in state prison Wednesday by the Mendocino County Superior Court, the Mendocino County DA’s Office announced in a press release.
Gerald Richard Orth, 63, formerly of Ukiah, was convicted in January by plea of attempting to explode a destructive device with intent to injure another person, a felony.
Because the defendant also admitted a prior felony conviction for a forcible rape that occurred in 1982 in Lake County, a “strike” under the current version of the Three Strikes law, the sentence was doubled to 14 years.
A strike conviction also limits the good time/work time credits an inmate may be able to earn in state prison to no more than 20 percent (versus the default 50 percent) of the overall sentence.
The prosecutor was Deputy District Attorney Scott McMenomey. Investigating law enforcement agencies were the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, the Sonoma County sheriff’s bomb squad, and the Fresno police department.
Mendocino County Superior Court Judge John Behnke imposed the state prison sentence after considering the Adult Probation department’s sentencing recommendation and listening to sentencing arguments presented by the attorneys.
