RENO, Nev. - A federal judge scheduled sentencing today for five self-avowed white supremacists who pleaded guilty to bomb-related charges in the attempted firebombing of a Jewish temple.
Four of the skinheads who schemed to burn down the Reno synagogue last fall faced up to 40 years in prison while the fifth faced as much as 35 years.
U.S. District Judge David Hagen was deciding the fate of the five young men from Nevada and California who admitted to the hate crime, conspiring to throw a Molotov cocktail at the Temple Emanu-El Jewish Synagogue Nov. 30.
A plastic liter bottle filled with cement shattered a window, but the gasoline bomb that followed fell to the ground and burned only the sidewalk.
Federal prosecutors said the group singled out the temple because of its religious affiliation and that the speedy resolution of the case was a sign of how serious the government takes such cases.
A grand jury indictment said the defendants were ''self-avowed 'skinheads' who advocated white supremacy and the oppression of black, Jewish and other minority persons.''
Most of them had swastikas or other Nazi tattoos visible during their previous court appearances.
Carl DeAmicis, 25, Christopher Hampton, 22, Scott Hudson 23, and Daniel McIntosh, 19, faced up to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to a series of federal charges, including conspiracy against the rights of citizens.
Joshua Kudlacek, 18, faced the lesser prison sentence because of his limited role in the attack. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the rights of citizens, damage to religious property and bombing property in and affecting interstate commerce.
The other four pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the rights of citizens, damage to religious property and using fire or explosives to commit a felony.
Hampton and Kudlacek are from Reno. Hudson is from Reno and Esparto, Calif. Police described DeAmicis and McIntosh as drifters who moved between Reno, Sacramento and Auburn, Calif.
