The man who admitted to torching and shooting at Kingdom Halls of the Jehovah's Witnesses in 2018 will spend 11 years in federal prison.
The man who admitted to torching and shooting at Kingdom Halls of the Jehovah's Witnesses in 2018 will spend 11 years in federal prison, a judge ruled Friday afternoon. Mikey Diamond Starrett, 52, of Olympia, apologized during his sentencing hearing in the U.
S. District Court in Tacoma while acknowledging the impact his actions had on the Jehovah's Witness community. “I am embarrassed and ashamed of my actions,” Starrett said. “ are indeed unprovoked and unacceptable. I wish I could go back in time and take it all back.” Earlier this year, Starrett pleaded guilty to four counts of damage to religious property and one count of use of a firearm during a crime of violence. Prosecutors called Starrett a serial arsonist who hated the Jehovah's Witness community and spent months carrying out the attacks. "These were not crimes against buildings, but a series of attacks against a community and a faith," Assistant United States Attorney Jonas Lerman wrote in a sentencing memorandum. "He committed not just one attack, but four. The damage or destruction he caused terrorized the Jehovah's Witness community and threatened our nation's promise of religious liberty." The motive for the attacks remains unclear, though investigators noted that Starrett was vocal about his animosity towards the Jehovah's Witnesses. "He described Jehovah's Witnesses as 'sleazy' and as 'gangsters' who were uninterested in serving the community," Lerman's sentencing memo states. "[Starrett} said Jehovah's Witnesses were trying to take over the world and wanted to do something about it. He said that he wished they were all dead." Federal investigators executed search warrants on Starrett's internet history and found he had researched Kingdom Hall locations around western Washington. "Starrett's internet history also revealed the depth of his hostility toward Jehovah's Witnesses and Christianity more broadly," the sentencing memo states. "For example, Starrett conducted extensive searches for relevant information in the period before and after the attacks, including the phrases 'Jehovah Witness refuse military service.' JW elder sexually assaulted eight girls over four decades and 'how to destroy Christianity with one easy step video." At Friday's hearing, Starrett said he is a changed man and feels no hatred toward the Jehovah's Witnesses. “I was wrong. I regret what I did. What I did was un-American in the United States, religious freedom is protected by the Constitution," he said.“Although I took great care to avoid physically hurting anybody, I had no right to destroy and damage Jehovah Witness Kingdom Halls and offer my sincere remorse for the fear and danger that my actions created," he said. Starrett's attorney, Bryan Hershman, argued in court that Starrett had a viable defense and could have won the case had it gone to trial. “We had a lot to work with, we did, and I commend Mikey for saying ‘no, I’ve got to take accountability for what I did’ and walk away from that staunch defense and take responsibility," Hershman told KOMO News. Prosecutors asked Judge David Estudillo to impose a sentence of 14 years, while Hershman asked for a sentence of 7 years and one day. After a brief court recess, Estudillo imposed a 132-month sentence followed by three years of supervised release. “This is just behavior and conduct that is just so serious that the law requires a serious punishment," Estudillo said.
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