CV NEWS FEED // After a Wisconsin man was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison on April 10 for firebombing the office of a pro-life organization, the organization has expressed disappointment that the punishment was not more serious.
Wisconsin Family Action stated in an April 11 news release that the federal charges required a sentencing of at least five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years. The pro-life organization recommended that the firebomber, Hridindu Roychowdhury, receive 15 years.
“We based that on justice—on the punishment fitting the crime, not on retribution or vengeance,” Wisconsin Family Action President Emeritus Julaine Appling stated in the news release. “This was a serious, premeditated crime that was the first of nearly 100 attacks on prolife organizations across the country. In light of this, we are disappointed in the judge’s decision regarding a crime the judge called ‘terrorism’ multiple times.”
FOX 11 NEWS reported that U.S. District Judge William Conley also sentenced Roychowdhury to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay almost $32,000 in restitution.
The attack occurred on May 8, 2022, when Roychowdhury threw two firebombs through the window of the Wisconsin Family Action office in Madison. The firebombing occurred less than a week after a draft of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson was leaked, suggesting that Roe v. Wade was about to be overturned.
CatholicVote reported in November that Roychowdhury agreed to plead guilty to the firebombing, as well as to spray painting a threatening message on the outside of the building.
Wisconsin Family Action President Christine File stated in the April 11 news release that the court “missed an opportunity to strengthen the protection of constitutional rights like free speech and free exercise, rights that have themselves been under assault in recent years.”
“It is notable that nearly 60 people filled the courtroom to support this person who committed a violent, unprovoked, and hate-filled crime,” File said. “Will the society-of-tomorrow support terrorism intended to silence people with whom we disagree?”
File also added that Roychowdhury did not express remorse for his actions, and said that the severity of the crime is not proportional to the sentence.
“However, as we’ve said since the day of the attack, no act or threat of violence or terrorism will deter us from our mission—being a voice for the voiceless,” she concluded.
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