SAN DIEGO — A 22-year-old former nursing student was denied a chance to address a packed courtroom before a judge sentenced him Thursday …
SAN DIEGO — A 22-year-old former nursing student was denied a chance to address a packed courtroom before a judge sentenced him Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for bursting into a Southern California synagogue on the last day of Passover in 2019 with a semiautomatic rifle, killing one worshipper and wounding three others. An agreement with prosecutors that spared John T. Earnest the death penalty left little suspense about the outcome, but the hearing gave 13 victims and families a chance to address the killer. Many gave heart-wrenching accounts of how their lives were upended and how determined they were to persevere despite such devastating loss. Earnest’s attorney, John O’Connell, said his client wanted to make a statement but San Diego Superior Court Judge Peter Deddeh refused, saying he did not want to create « a political forum » for white supremacist views. « I’m not going to let him use this as a platform to add to his celebrity, » the judge said, pointing to comments that Earnest made to police when he was arrested, hand gestures to the audience during a previous hearing and his probation report. Earnest, who was tied to a device that prevented him from turning to the audience, showed no visible reaction during the two-hour hearing as speakers called him a lowlife coward, an evil animal and a monster. A prosecutor asked Deddeh to reconsider his refusal to let Earnest speak after conferring with the defense attorney about the substance of his remarks, but the judge didn’t budge. San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan, who listened to victims from a front-row seat, told reporters that Earnest’s planned statement was « more spewing of hatred and propaganda » and that the judge made the right call.
