The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors postponed Friday's sentencing of an anti-abortion activist once on the FBI's most wanted list, a reaction to an unexpected Supreme Court ruling that called into legal doubt sentencing practices used around the country.

Prosecutors in Philadelphia decided to ask a judge to put off sentencing Clayton Lee Waagner because it was unclear whether or how Thursday's ruling from the high court might affect that case and others.

"Everybody is trying to sort out the meaning of the decision," said Timothy Rice, chief of the criminal division for the U.S. attorney's office in Philadelphia.

U.S. District Judge Anita Brody granted prosecutors' request to put off the sentencing for Waagner, convicted last year of sending fake anthrax letters to abortion clinics. He faces life in prison.

"We just want to make sure we get it right," Assistant U.S. Attorney Rich Barrett said.

Waagner, 47, of Kennerdell, Pa., was awaiting sentencing in Illinois on gun charges when he escaped from prison in February 2001. He was on the run for 10 months before he was recaptured leaving a Kinko's store in Springdale, Ohio.