East County Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Girlfriend's Homemade Cannon Death

An East County man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for building a homemade explosive device that killed his longtime girlfriend.

Richard Dale Fox, 41, was denied probation and given the maximum sentence for charges of explosion of a destructive device and possession of ingredients to make an explosive device. He pleaded guilty in July to those charges.

Fox was originally charged with murder in the March 2012 death of Jeanette Ogara, 38, his girlfriend of 11 years.

The 10-year sentence was the punishment that the victim's family sought in the tragedy.

"We have suffered a lot and we're still suffering," Marisa Salyear, the victim's mother, said during sentencing. "I could never forget my child. She's gone."

Ogara's family called the incident an act of stupidity.

"This doesn't surprise me whatsoever that he finally caused someone to die, be it intentionally or not," said Ogara's brother, Anthony Ogara. "This was known he was going to do this to somebody, somehow, somewhere and here it's my sister now."

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In a jailhouse interview with NBC 7, Fox said the couple had been drinking at their Potrero mobile home when he decided to light off fireworks from his cannon-like device – something he had done a dozen times before.

He cut off the tops of the fireworks, poured the powder into his 26-inch pipe and stuffed it down with a broom handle.

But when he placed it on the ground and the device exploded, shrapnel went shooting through the side of the couple’s trailer, hitting Ogara in her chest.

“I just wish that the damn thing had hit me instead of her,” Fox had told NBC 7. “I would have much rather died than her.”

The district attorney’s office decided there was no evidence that Fox intended to kill Ogara, so the murder charge was dropped.

The couple’s then-4-year-old daughter was inside the trailer with three friends at the time, but they were not injured. Ogara and Fox also have a 13-year-old daughter.

In response to the victim's family's comments and the sentence on Monday, Fox appeared contrite.

"I love you, Jeanette. Forever. You're my best friend," he said. "I wish it would have been me instead. I'm sorry."
 

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