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David Ansberry Gets Lengthy Sentence For Planting Bomb Outside Police Station

DENVER (CBS4) - The man who left a homemade bomb outside a Colorado police department was sentenced in federal court on Friday. David Michael Ansberry will serve 27 years in prison and five years of supervised release.

David Michael Ansberry
David Michael Ansberry (credit: CBS)

Ansberry pleaded guilty to leaving a backpack with bomb outside of the Nederland Police Department in 2016. Investigators say he attempted to detonate the device several times but failed.

nederland explosive
(credit: CBS)

Ansberry, from San Rafael, California, said he did it as an act of revenge for the killing of a friend by the former Nederland town marshal back in 1971 at a bar called the Pioneer Inn.

He was arrested a few days after the crime at an airport in Chicago. His arrest came after surveillance video captured him at the stores where he bought the cellphones that he expected would trigger the explosive.

The town marshal in 1971 was Renner Forbes. He eventually confessed to the murder of Guy Goughnor, also known as "Deputy Dawg." He was part of a group known as STP. Ansberry was also part of that group, although he was known then as Midget Jesse, due to his 3-foot-6 height.

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