A Montana man was sentenced to 18 years for hate crime and firearms charges after threatening a woman with homophobic slurs and shooting at her house, part of a “mission” to rid a small town of its LGBTQ community.
A southwestern Montana man has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison after being convicted of a hate crime and firearms charges for threatening a woman with violent, homophobic slurs and shooting at her house with an AK-47 assault rifle as part of a self-described “mission” to “clean” the small town of its LGBTQ community.
A federal jury in U.S. District Court in Helena on Feb. 17 found Howald guilty of hate and firearms crimes. “Whatever this court may think of him, Howald is not Omar Maateen, who killed 49 people and wounded 52 more at a gay nightclub,” Stephens argued. “At his core, Howald is not a crusading bigot, who is hell bent for leather on wiping lesbians from the Earth. The court heard what he said that day, but the context of Howald’s words matter as much as the actions that accompany them.”
The indictment said Howald tried to injure a woman because of her “actual and perceived sexual orientation” by firing several rounds from his AK-47 rifle into her home in the community of about 270 residents, stating that he wanted to “get rid of the lesbians gays.” Local residents who were leaving church that Sunday and knew Howald were able to stall him long enough for a sheriff’s deputy to respond. When the deputy arrived, Howald pointed the assault rifle at him, nearly starting a shootout. Howald then fled into the hills and spent the night sleeping in the woods, court records said.
A prosecuting attorney dismissed Howald’s claims, saying his goal was to clean the town of gays and lesbians.
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