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Idaho domestic terrorist released early from federal prison

Brian Ratigan, 61, was imprisoned for more than two decades for bombing a Planned Parenthood clinic and robbing a bank in Spokane Valley in 1996.
Credit: Scott Olson / Getty Images
A sign hangs above a Planned Parenthood clinic on May 18, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois.

SPOKANE, Wash. — An Idaho man imprisoned for more than two decades for bombing a Planned Parenthood clinic and robbing a bank in Spokane Valley in 1996 walked free from federal custody this week.

Brian Ratigan, 61, of Sandpoint, Idaho, received credit for 23 years served in federal custody and was released Wednesday. 

Ratigan, along with three accomplices in the the domestic terrorist Phineas Priesthood group,  became eligible for new sentences after a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling found the federal law allowing for longer prison sentences for violent felonies was unconstitutionally vague. 

The other three members are Charles Barbee, 68; Robert Berry, 66; and Jay Merrell, 74, all of Sandpoint, who will be resentenced shortly.

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