TUCSON, ARIZ. (KGUN) — Eric Ridenour burned two historic churches that have anchored the spiritual life of Douglas for more than a hundred years. He faced hate crimes on top of arson because he thought it was an insult against God for one church to be led by a gay man, and another to be led by a woman.
He faces sentencing next week.
The US Attorney says that sentence should lock him up for 39 years.
“It’s sad to think that a man who represents himself as being a staunch strict follower of the Bible, can do something so evil and hateful," jury foreman Glenn Hoffman said in July, just after he voted to convict Eric Ridenour.
Evidence in the case included store video of Ridenour buying the same sort of charcoal lighter fluid found in the fire debris at First Presbyterian church.
There was surveillance video of Ridenour’s car driving away from the churches as smoke started to show over St. Stephen’s Episcopal.
St. Stephen’s is the church where Reverend John Caleb Collins led the congregation.
“I believe justice in this case would be for him to serve a sentence," The Rev. Collins said. "I do still pray for his repentance. I pray for him to have a change of heart and mind because like I said, it was really sad that he mentioned God. He mentioned Jesus. He mentioned he claimed to be a Christian. He never mentioned love or justice. “
The US Attorney just filed a recommendation to sentence Ridenour to 39 years in prison. The statement says there’s no indication Ridenour regrets what he did and it suggests his arson and hate crime could inspire other crimes like his.
The US Attorney says, “His crimes were meant to be warnings to others that this could happen to them if their religious beliefs were outside of what he considers true.”
The US Attorney’s filing is a recommendation. The actual sentence is up to Federal Judge Scott Rash.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
