By Mike Harris Monday, September 14th, 2026

A man pleaded guilty on Sept. 14 to detonating a bomb at the Santa Maria courthouse in 2024, injuring three people and damaging the building.

Federal prosecutors said defendant Nathaniel James McGuire, 22, of Santa Maria, intended to kill law enforcement officers in retaliation for local law enforcement seizing his firearms earlier that year.

They called the bombing a “terroristic assault.”

The courthouse is part of the Santa Barbara County Superior Court.

McGuire pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count each of use of a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of a building using an explosive.

 “This defendant’s brazen act of terror resulted in physical, structural, and emotional harm, and could have had tragic consequences,” First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said in a press release.

“Individuals who use bombs against law enforcement officials, judges, and other government personnel must be held accountable and face severe punishment for their actions,” Essayli said

McGuire, who has been in federal custody since September 2024, is scheduled to be sentenced March 1, 2027, and faces a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison.