Holden Matthews, the man who set fire to three Black churches in Louisiana in 2019, has been sentenced by the Justice Department to 300 months in prison. Matthews was convicted of three counts of violating the Church Arson Prevention Act, as well as an additional count of using fire to commit a federal felony. He pleaded guilty to the charges in February. During that hearing, Matthews admitted he had set fire to the St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre, and Greater Union Baptist Church and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, both in Opelousas, over a 10-day spree in March and April 2019 in order to gain clout in the black metal music community. “These churches trace their origins to the post-Civil War Reconstruction period and, for generations, were a place for predominantly African American Christians to gather, pray, worship, and celebrate their faith,” said attorney general Eric Dreiband. “The churches survived for nearly 150 years but did not survive this defendant’s warped act of hatred.”
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