A man who set fire to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Illinois was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
Video surveillance caught Tyler Massengill, who was dressed in a hooded coat, driving up to the clinic in Peoria on Jan. 15 and lighting a large bottle on fire before smashing a window to throw it inside. Massengill pleaded guilty to the charges of “malicious use of fire and an explosive to damage, and attempt to damage” in February, and he was sentenced to five years longer than the minimum sentencing for the crime, according to AP. (RELATED: Texas Heads to Court After Suing Planned Parenthood For Millions)
“If it is possible to be both spontaneous and intentional at the same time, you achieved it,” U.S. District Judge James Shadid said during the sentencing, according to WMBD-TV, a local media outlet. “And to add to your accomplishments, there’s the striking of fear, stress and inconvenience to thousands of patients and employees from the many other Planned Parenthood facilities who wonder if they are next on the list of misguided people like you.”
Pro-choice and anti-abortion both demonstrate outside the United States Supreme Court as the court hears arguments over a challenge to a Texas law that bans abortion after six weeks in Washington, U.S., November 1, 2021. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo)
No one was inside the clinic during the incident, according to the AP. The fire caused significant damage, which included significant charring in the lobby, WMBD-TV reported.
Massengill called the police after setting the fire and told them that he didn’t know who had done it, but police discovered footage proving otherwise and Masssengill quickly confessed.
Massengill had argued in his defense that a former girlfriend three years prior had gotten an abortion, which she denies, at that same clinic and that when he saw it he spontaneously decided to set the fire, according to a complaint from the Department of Justice. His defense attempted to argue that his history of alcohol abuse and mental illness needed to be taken into account for the crime, according to AP.
Shadid also ordered Massengill to pay a fine of $1.45 million as restitution for the damages caused due to the fire, according to AP. Messengill said during the sentencing that he knew he was not a “victim” but that he had been “sincerely hurt” by the events leading up to setting the fire.
“I feel for the people who have lost their jobs,” Massengill said, according to AP. “I’m not trying to play like I am victim at this. I was sincerely hurt.”
Massengill’s attorney did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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