California man gets second life term for synagogue attack
Dec 28 2021
''California man gets second life term for synagogue attack
Hannah Kaye held up the last photo taken of her and her mother, Lori Gilbert-Kaye taken the day before she was killed inside Chabad of Poway during a Sabbath service, as she gives a victim impact statement, during John T. Earnest's sentencing hearing in Superior Court, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021, in San Diego. (Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP)
''SAN DIEGO (AP) - A 22-year-old white supremacist was sentenced Tuesday to life in federal prison for killing a woman and injuring three others when he burst into a Southern California synagogue in 2019, adding to a life sentence he received three months earlier in state court.
John T. Earnest declined to speak in a courtroom full of victims, families and congregants. In state court, his attorney said he wanted to speak but a judge refused, saying he didn't want to give a platform for his hate-filled speech.
Earnest's attorney, Ellis Johnston III, said his client acknowledged his actions were “inappropriate,” a statement that was greeted with skepticism by prosecutors. Peter Ko, a federal prosecutor, said Earnest's expression of regret came shortly after the shooting in a phone call to someone else.
U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia said the federal and state life sentences would run one after the other instead of concurrently, acknowledging it was symbolic but that it was meant to send a strong message. The judge denied a defense attorney's request to have Earnest stay in state prison.''