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Cesar Sayoc at a Donald Trump rally in Florida. |
Prosecutors had asked that the Filipino American, 57, receive a sentence of life in prison for the mail bombing spree.
Sayoc, a 57-year-old former exotic dancer, deejay and pizza deliverer, had pleaded guilty on March 21 to 65 criminal counts, which included using weapons of mass destruction and illegal mailing of explosives with intent to kill or injure. Prosecutors said Sayoc's crimes amounts to a "domestic terrorist attack."
The reason Sayoc didn't receive a longer sentence is that his lawyers were able to paint Sayoc as a victim, a man who suffered from traumatic events in his life and was vulnerable to the hateful rhetoric espoused by Donald Trump and Fox News.
In their own sentencing written argument, defense lawyers submitted that, "a series of traumatic events pushed Cesar Sayoc further and further into the margins of society."
Those events included being abandoned by his father as a boy, being sexually abused by a teacher at his Catholic school, and losing "everything in the Great Recession."
"As a man, he became increasingly estranged from his family and dependent on drugs, particularly steroids," Sayoc's lawyers wrote.
"By 2018, he was living alone in a decrepit and cramped van that had been his home for more than a decade. A typical day saw Mr. Sayoc waking up in his van, showering at the gym, and cooking crockpot meals while inside the DJ booth of a strip club before heading off to his second job delivering pizza. As he grew older and more isolated, excessive steroid use increased his feelings of anxiety and paranoia."
Sayoc was arrested Oct. 26, 2018, two days after bombs were mailed to a number of individuals and organizations that he believed were enemies of Trump, who he idolized.
Sayoc's intended targets included former Presidents Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Joe Biden, the news network CNN, former Attorney General Eric Holder, former CIA Director John Brennan, Senators Cory Booker, D-NJ, and Kamala Harris, D-CA, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, former Director James Clapper and Tom Steyer, the billionaire now running for the Democratic presidential nomination with Booker and Harris. The packages carried a return address of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida, the former chief of the Democratic National Committee.
Although the crude pipe bombs did not explode, and no one was injured, Manhattan US Circuit Judge Jed Rakoff said: "The nature and circumstances of the ... offenses are, by any measure, horrendous."
Sayoc created "a climate of fear and terror, going on, day after day, for several weeks," Rakoff added.
Sayoc was given an opportunity to speak where he expressed remorse for his actions. He wept while the sentence was imposed, minutes earlier tried to hold back tears while saying he regretted his actions.
"I am beyond so very sorry for what I did," Sayoc told the judge.
"Your Honor, I understand now that I have committed a serious crime. I fully accept responsibility," he told the judge.
Referring to his intended targets, he added: "I will be apologizing to them for the rest of my life."
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