GREENSBORO -- Engineering sophomore Clayton Peterson pleaded guilty in a federal court Friday to possessing the two-inch, homemade pipebomb found in the Allen Building last spring.
His sentencing has been scheduled for Dec. 29.
Although the federal sentencing guidelines for Peterson's plea mandate a maximum of 10 years imprisonment, U.S. Assistant District Attorney Rick Glaser recommended Friday that Peterson receive "the low end" of that -- about 30 to 37 months in prison.
"No one knows for sure where you fit in the sentencing guidelines," U.S. Middle District Judge William Osteen told Peterson. Osteen will determine Peterson's sentence in December.
By pleading guilty to a felony, Peterson forfeits several of his civil rights: the rights to vote, to hold public office, to serve on a jury and to own or possess firearms. Further, after his prison term is up, Peterson will be under three years of court-supervised parental supervision.
Through a plea-bargaining agreement, the nineteen-year-old did not plead guilty to the two other counts against him -- charges of manufacturing the pipebomb and possessing six smaller explosive devices found in his father's Durham residence.
Peterson's father has argued since his son's arrest on May 5 that his son planted the bomb on April 23 as part of an elaborate scheme to obtain a fake identification card for use at Myrtle Beach. Once inside the Allen Building, Peterson planted the bomb to divert attention from the ID-making office equipment he stole the same night.
He is currently staying at home under court detention, which means he must be under constant parental supervision and may not leave the house except for a medical emergency.
Peterson's father, Michael, Trinity '65 and an author, said the probation office will be putting an ankle bracelet on his son later this week. The bracelet, mandated by Judge Osteen, sounds an alarm if the wearer strays too far from a monitoring box.
"[The hearing] looked pretty grim," Michael Peterson said in an interview Sunday. Peterson said because the judge only heard the prosecution's version of the facts, Judge Osteen was alarmed and ready to throw his son back in jail. The defense plans to present its side when sentencing takes place to show it was not a politically-motivated act, he said.
"After the hearing on Friday, we were all pretty shell-shocked," Michael Peterson said.
Peterson's former girlfriend, engineering sophomore Becky Seibert, said she has visited him before and plans to do so again before Christmas.
"He's still a good guy. I still firmly believe it," she said.
Before Peterson's plea was accepted by Judge Osteen, Glaser called Jamie Colley, special agent for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, to testify.
Colley testified that Peterson admitted to him that he had broken into Allen Building, stolen the office equipment, planted the bomb and left a note on a table.
"[The note] basically said war had been declared on the University," Colley said.
Colley, along with other federal agents, searched the attic of Peterson's Durham residence. They discovered a bag of model rocket engines containing gunpowder, a coffee grinder, several lengths of fuse, various tools and the stolen office equipment. Agents also discovered a few exploded carbon-dioxide devices as well as 13 other unexploded devices.
There were various types of explosive devices Peterson had in his father's attic, Colley said. One of the devices had a field point affixed to it so it could be screwed into an arrow. Once it hit a target, it would explode. Like the bomb found in the Allen Building, Colley said that all of Peterson's devices were "improvised incendiary devices [which] would, upon explosion, project metal fragments at high velocities in all directions," causing injury or death.
Peterson admitted to federal agents he had set off another device in a telephone booth in Germany after learning he was rejected from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The agents testified that Peterson admitted he was a "social drinker" and that he "did have some opposition to the [University's proposed] restrictions."
Colley further stated that Peterson had told him he had used a real bomb because he had wanted the diversion to be as real as possible. The fuse, which Peterson maintains he spliced, burned out just inches before detonating the gasoline at the bottom of the bomb.
Peterson's attorney, Thomas Eagen, pointed out to the judge after Colley's testimony that Peterson never intended for the bomb to detonate.
"That's sort of like a bank robber pointing a gun at a bank teller and saying later, `I'm kidding,'" Osteen responded. "Eagen, you've got your work cut out for you at sentencing time."
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