LITTLE ROCK — A federal judge on Thursday set December sentencing dates for Dr. Randeep Mann, a Russellville physician convicted in a bombing that seriously injured the chairman of the Arkansas State Medical Board, and for Mann’s wife, Sangeeta, convicted of obstructing the investigation of her husband.
U.S. District Judge Brian S. Miller, who presided over a five-week jury trial for the Manns this summer, set Sangeeta “Sue” Mann’s sentencing for noon Dec. 8, and Randeep Mann’s sentencing for 11:30 a.m. Dec. 10 in Miller’s Little Rock courtroom.
A jury agreed that Randeep Mann was responsible for a Feb. 9, 2009, explosion in the driveway of Dr. Trent Pierce’s West Memphis home. The explosion occurred when Pierce, then 54, moved a grenade-rigged spare tire away from his sport utility vehicle where someone had propped it against the bumper.
Pierce was opposed to Randeep Mann’s attempts to have his narcotics prescription-writing privileges restored. The medical board had suspended those privileges three years earlier, and was beginning a new investigation into complaints that Mann had violated the terms of the suspension. If the investigation proved true, Mann was expected to permanently lose his medical license.
Pierce was blinded in oneeye and suffered several other injuries in the blast, but recovered and returned to work in his private clinic and as board chairman. He testified against Mann at the trial.
Investigators believe Randeep Mann arranged for the bombing, but that someone else, who hasn’t yet been caught, actually set the bomb.
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 10/29/2010