Georgia inmate sentenced to 80 years for making bombs mailed to U.S. courthouse, Justice Department

A Georgia inmate was sentenced to 80 years in federal custody for building two bombs inside a state prison and mailing them to a federal courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, and to the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. The sentence, announced Tuesday in federal court, follows a guilty plea to two counts of attempted malicious use of explosive materials. The inmate was identified in court records as David Dwayne Cassady, 57, who now goes by Lena Noel Summerlin.

Prosecutors said the bombs were made at a state prison in Tattnall County, Georgia, and mailed from the facility. The document does not detail how the bombs were constructed or where the materials were obtained, and the devices were described as functional and capable of exploding. The defendant admitted to mailing them "in retaliation for prison conditions".

Authorities said the inmate has a long record in Georgia corrections, with holds in multiple facilities since the early 1990s after convictions for more than a dozen crimes including kidnapping and aggravated sodomy, according to records from the Georgia Department of Corrections. Defense counsel Tina Maddox wrote in a sentencing memo that the defendant has severe anxiety and gender dysphoria, and that the crimes were "acts of desperation born out of unrelenting abuse, hopelessness, and mental distress." The lawyer said the defendant now uses the name Lena Noel Summerlin.

U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling described the devices as a threat not only to the recipients but to anyone who might handle or transport them, while Rodney Hopkins, inspector in charge of the Atlanta division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, said the defendant intended to incite fear in the targets and in the public.

The case highlights ongoing concerns about the security of the mail system and the safety of those who handle it, as federal prosecutors pursue sentences to deter similar acts by incarcerated individuals.