Cesar Sayoc sentenced to 20 years in prison for sending pipe bombs to prominent Democrats, CNN

NEW YORK CITY -- (WPIX) -- Cesar Sayoc, the man who sent pipe bombs to prominent Democrats and CNN, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, a U.S. District Court Judge ruled Monday.

Sayoc sent 16 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to 13 targets over two weeks last October, according to court documents obtained by CNN. His targets included former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, actor Robert De Niro and major Democratic donors like George Soros and Tom Steyer. None of the devices detonated, and no one was injured.

His lawyers, led by Sarah Baumgartel of Federal Defenders of New York, Inc., an independent, nonprofit organization, struck a deal with prosecutors to eliminate a charge that would have carried a mandatory life prison sentence as long as Sayoc entered a guilty plea to 65 felony counts. He did so in March.

That same agreement included Sayoc's sworn statement that he “sent all of the 16 devices with the intent to threaten and intimidate people and with the intent to injure property” and that he “was aware of the risk that [the devices] would explode.”

Prosecutors led by U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman of the Southern District of New York filed a request in July asking that Sayoc be sentenced to life in prison.

Sayoc's “terrorist attack” was the culmination of years of “hate-filled threats,” months of planning and “days of carefully assembling the explosive mailings,” according to the prosecution's sentencing memorandum obtained by CNN.