A man was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison on Friday for plotting to bomb a historic Colorado synagogue last year by a judge who described the case as “full of Nazism and supremacy”.
Judge Raymond P. Moore established the 235-month sentence for Richard Holzer, 28, and imposed a supervised release sentence of 15 years.
THE JUDGE REFUSES TO DOWNLOAD $ 3M OF CONNECTION FOR THE COLORADO ANIMALS RIGHTS ACTIVATED FOR MURDERING FOR RENT IS BAD
During the sentencing trial, Moore expressed harsh criticism of Holzer’s previous statements to secret FBI agents and social media accounts – describing Holzer’s life as full of violent and hateful images.
“It is one of the most vulgar, aggressive and perverse crimes that can be committed against an entire group of people,” said Moore.
Holzer’s advocacy team argued that his suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome influenced his development into adulthood and contributed to his “overwhelming and unsatisfied need to appear more important than he is.”
The defense asked the judge for a shorter sentence for Holzer to benefit from post-prison rehabilitation for his radical ideas and to have an incentive to prepare for life after his arrest. He also said that Holzer no longer had the beliefs of supremacy that led him to plan the bombing of the Temple Emanuel Synagogue in Pueblo.
The Emanuel Temple plot was one of 61 cases of anti-Semitic harassment and vandalism that the mountainous states of the Anti-Defamation League tracked in 2019.
“The notion that he turned a corner is fantasy,” said Moore before listing the swastikas found in his cell and the symbolism of supremacy in his signed prison letters.
ALLEGED NEO-NAZI STARTS GUILTY IN THE PART OF THE COLORADO SYNAGOGUE
Holzer declined the opportunity to make a statement at his trial.
“About two and a half years ago, my first day as a US prosecutor took me on a vigil for the victims of the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue attack,” Attorney General Jason Dunn said in a statement. “Today, my last day in the office, we sentenced the extremist responsible for the bombing attempt at the Emanuel Temple Synagogue in Pueblo.”
In October, Holzer pleaded guilty to trying to stop people from exercising their religion with an explosive or fire and to trying to destroy a building used in interstate commerce in a court settlement with prosecutors.
Holzer was arrested on November 1, 2019, after receiving two fake bombs and 14 sticks of dynamite from secret FBI agents he planned to use at the Emanuel Temple.
An agent pretended to be a white supremacist and contacted Holzer online after seeing his posts on social media promoting white supremacy and violence, according to the facts agreed by both sides as part of the court settlement.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
After his arrest, Holzer said that “the event planned for tonight would define me as a person who would die for his people,” according to a statement from the Colorado attorney general’s office.
Temple Emanuel is the second oldest synagogue in Colorado. It was built in 1900 largely by descendants of immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe.