David McKay, 23, told the judge at the U.S. Courthouse in Minneapolis that he wished he had never left Austin last September with a group of activists to demonstrate in Minnesota.
After a mistrial in January, McKay pleaded guilty to three felony counts, including possession of an unregistered firearm, which is how federal law classifies Molotov cocktails, which are explosives named after a Soviet diplomat. McKay's sentence was less than the 63 to 72 months of imprisonment suggested by federal guidelines. He will be on supervised release for three years after serving his time at a federal prison in Texas.
"I should have never been up here. I should have never left my home. I should have never left the people who loved me," McKay told U.S. District Court Chief Judge Michael Davis. "I want to work to be more than my mistakes and to become something greater than this. I just hope you can see that."
McKay and co-defendant Bradley Neal Crowder, 24, were both accused of making and possessing eight of the homemade firebombs — wine bottles filled with a mix of gasoline and motor oil — in a St. Paul home. Their target was a truck-mounted JumboTron parked near the convention center. After Crowder was arrested at a protest, McKay changed the target to law enforcement vehicles, prosecutors said.
An FBI informant — Austin-area activist Brandon Darby — had traveled with McKay from Austin and turned him in.
During his trial in January, McKay claimed that Darby entrapped him by convincing him to make the firebombs. The trial ended with a hung jury, in part, according to prosecutors, because of the entrapment story.
The retrial was to be held in March, but McKay and his lawyer, Jeffrey DeGree, decided to take a plea agreement after Crowder was granted immunity to testify.
Crowder earlier pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered firearm. He was sentenced last week to two years in prison.
At the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Paulsen asked the judge to increase McKay's sentence because he obstructed justice by claiming Darby entrapped him at his first trial and then recanted by pleading guilty. He also argued that McKay never accepted responsibility for his actions and therefore the judge shouldn't reduce the sentence.
Davis sentenced McKay to less time than suggested by federal guidelines.
Outside the courtroom, Paulsen said it was unfortunate that McKay's actions drowned out the message of the peaceful protesters at the convention.
McKay's father, Michel McKay, said his son's sentence should have been less than Crowder's because his son didn't make up any stories. It was the prosecutor who fabricated a tale, he said.
Defense attorney Jeffrey DeGree said he was disappointed with the sentence, saying it should have been closer to Crowder's sentence. He said he and McKay still needed to talk about any appeal.
More from Austin American-Statesman | Top of Page
Useful article? Use these tools to let someone know:
Send & Share | Print | Access RSS Feed for Syndication
