A man was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Friday for carrying out multiple arson attacks and a shooting spree at Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Halls in 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said.
Mikey Diamond Starrett from Olympia, Washington, also known as Michael Jason Layes, pleaded guilty in May to four counts of damage to religious property and one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence.
His jail sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release for federal civil rights and firearms offenses. The court also ordered him to pay more than $714,600 in restitution to the Kingdom Halls.
The 52-year-old was accused of damaging three Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Halls in Tumwater, Olympia, and Yelm, causing more than $700,000 in damages, according to the DOJ.
According to court records, Starrett committed arson at the Tumwater and Olympia Kingdom Halls on March 19, 2018, and later returned to the Olympia Kingdom Hall on July 3, 2018, when he burned down the religious building completely.
He also shot rounds from a rifle into the Yelm Kingdom Hall on May 15, 2018. The DOJ did not specify whether these incidents resulted in any injuries.
Starrett was arrested in September 2021 and has been in federal custody since. The DOJ said that he had admitted in a plea deal that he targeted the Kingdom Halls because of their “religious character.”
U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman denounced Starrett’s attacks and said they have resulted in “severe” and “permanent harm” to the Jehovah’s Witness community in Washington state.
“These were not crimes against buildings, but a series of attacks against a community and a faith,” Gorman said in a statement.
Prosecutors described the attacks as “premeditated” and said that Starrett disregarded the safety of the Kingdom Halls, its congregants, first responders, and the surrounding area while carrying out the attacks.
“His attacks were brazen and show that he believed he could engage in extensive criminal conduct without consequence,” they wrote in a sentencing memo, according to the DOJ.
During the sentencing hearing, a spokesman for the Jehovah’s Witness community read statements detailing the fear and anxiety experienced by community members in the aftermath of Starrett’s attacks.
“I wondered if the arsonist would strike again with people inside,” one of the statement reads. Some community members said they are worried that “someone would come to a meeting with a gun.”
