Woman receives 6 years in prison for abortion clinic firebomb

Boyfriend to be sentenced today.

The Shreveport Times/August 3, 2006
By Adam Kealoha Causey

A Shreveport woman must serve six years in prison for leaving a burning bottle of gasoline outside a local abortion clinic in December.

Caddo District Judge Ramona Emanuel sentenced Patricia Hughes, 24, on Wednesday. Hughes and her boyfriend, 19-year-old Jeremy Dunahoe, also of Shreveport, admitted in court last month to placing a firebomb outside Hope Medical Clinic For Women.

Hughes pleaded guilty to a charge of manufacturing and possession of a delayed incendiary device, and Dunahoe pleaded guilty to being an accessory. Dunahoe faces up to five years in prison, and his sentencing is scheduled for today.

Hughes entered the guilty plea in exchange for prosecutors not seeking to have her sentenced as a multiple offender. She has a prior conviction of simple burglary. She could have been sentenced to up to 40 years in prison as a multiple offender but only 20 years for the single charge of manufacturing and possession of a delayed incendiary device.

"I feel that she considered all aggravating and mitigating factors to come up with an appropriate sentence," Assistant District Attorney Dhu Thompson said of Emanuel's sentencing.

Surveillance video at Hope Medical Group for Women on Kings Highway in Shreveport captured a vehicle circling the parking lot. It shows a woman walking toward the front of the building and a fire breaking out when she left.

Prosecutors said the device used was a Molotov cocktail, a bottle filled with gasoline, a rag and a candle. The bomb apparently fell about 3 feet away from the building and burned, but didn't spread to the clinic.