Judge Richard Jones sentenced the men to varying prison terms.
Jason DeSimas, of Tacoma, will serve four years. Under a plea agreement, prosecutors and the defense recommended just over three years. Jason Stanley, of Boise, Idaho, had the same plea deal. Jones sentenced him to four years, as well.
The attack took place just hours after the four men attended a ceremony marking the death of the murderous neo-Nazi activist Robert Jay Mathews, founder of The Order, who was killed in an FBI shootout at Smuggler’s Cove on Whidbey Island in 1984.
Rick Collodi, the FBI’s special agent in charge of Seattle’s field office, said the defendants tried to conceal their actions, but the truth came out.
“The four defendants admitted to being members of a white supremacist group. While they have the right to believe what they want, they do not have the right to commit a crime.”
Collodi said.
U.S. District Judge Richard Jones told each of the men in turn that their actions were reprehensible and that they were heroes to nobody’s cause.
All four were previously convicted of committing a hate crime and making false statements.
The man they attacked, Tyrone Smith, said outside the courthouse that his life is forever changed.
The judge also ordered the defendants to pay nearly $171,000 in restitution to cover lost wages and medical bills. He called the attack that of a “modern day unhooded KKK.”
