“Earnest admitted that he dedicated these crimes due to his bias and hatred of Jews,” the San Diego County District Legal professional’s Workplace mentioned in a information launch on Tuesday. Earnest additionally admitted to setting fireplace to a mosque previous to the synagogue taking pictures, “for the aim of terrorizing Muslim worshippers,” the discharge added.
San Diego Superior Court docket Choose Peter Deddeh accepted Earnest’s pleas Tuesday, and a sentencing listening to has been set for September 30.
In a press release, the district lawyer’s workplace mentioned they hope life in jail for Earnest is “an acceptable decision to this violent hate crime and we hope it brings a measure of justice and closure to the victims, their households, pals and the broader neighborhood. “
The choice to just accept his plea, the workplace mentioned, got here after they consulted with the taking pictures victims’ households.
That is one depend for each one that was contained in the synagogue, US Legal professional for the Southern District of California Robert Brewer beforehand mentioned. As a part of that case, prosecutors referenced an open-letter posted on-line shortly earlier than the taking pictures that bore Earnest’s title.
CNN has beforehand reported the letter was full of anti-Semitic and White nationalist sentiments, and the writer talked about planning the assault in Poway, citing as inspiration the gunman within the 2018 lethal taking pictures on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh — and the shooter who killed congregants at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
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