Two men plead no contest in bomb case

Lolita Harper

CIVIC CENTER -- He said he would rather take a plea than spend one

more night in jail.

Patrick Longmire, 18, of Burbank, who was charged with a felony count

of conspiring to bomb Burbank High School, leaned over to his attorney

Thursday after a long day in court and instructed him to accept a plea,

offered earlier by the deputy district attorney, that would allow him to

go home immediately.

“Do I think we can win this? Yes. Will Patrick suffer immensely from

sitting in jail? That’s what we have to decide,” said Longmire’s defense

attorney, Charles Lindner.

Longmire and his co-defendant, Chris Mannino, 18, of Van Nuys, pleaded

no contest to a misdemeanor conspiracy charge and were released Thursday

night after spending about five weeks in Los Angeles County Jail. Both

men had been held for more than a month in lieu of $1 million bail.

The two were ordered to serve three years of formal probation, 100

hours of community service, complete anger management counseling and

subject themselves to being searched by police at any time, with or

without a warrant. Longmire and Mannino also were ordered to pay $100 to

the victims’ restitution fund.

Although his son gets to come home, Chris’ father, Sam Mannino, said

he thought his son was treated unjustly.

“I don’t like what went on here, but I’m not a millionaire. I can’t

afford to get him out of jail,” Sam Mannino said.

The father alleged his son was beaten up twice in jail.

Prosecutor Natalie Adomian first offered the plea at the beginning of

the preliminary hearing, but only as a package deal. Mannino was ready to

accept it, but Longmire wanted to fight. After hours of testimony and a

slew of motions, Lindner’s final attempt to help his client was to try

and reduce bail.

When Burbank Superior Court Judge Robert Sandoval denied bail

reduction, Longmire agreed to the plea.