Skinhead Given 22-Year Sentence in Scissors Attack
On the day he was sentenced, a 28-year-old neo-Nazi skinhead who viciously stabbed a black man in the head with scissors had an surprising epiphany.
鈥淲e have more in common than we don鈥檛,鈥� Ryan Zietlow-Brown told his victim in court, apologizing for the hate crime he committed in downtown Santa Barbara, Calif., in August 2011.
Zietlow-Brown was sentenced on Tuesday to 22 years and 4 months in prison after pleading no contest in early January to felony charges of attempted murder and mayhem with a hate crime motivation, the reported today.
Defense attorney Steven Andrade told the court that Zietlow-Brown had been awake for five days, high on methamphetamine, and that he suffered from a 鈥渂rain irregularity鈥� causing impulsive behavior. Andrade argued that the crime was more a consequence of Zietlow-Brown being 鈥渁ngry and out of control鈥� rather than being racially motivated.
Prosecutor Kim Siegel said Zietlow-Brown was involved in multiple racially based fights prior to his arrest, showing 鈥渃omplete disregard for human safety and life,鈥� the newspaper reported. She disagreed with a defense claim that the young man has given up his white supremacist affiliations.
Addressing the court, the defendant also apologized his mother, Shelya Rosenbaum 鈥� who is Jewish and of African-American descent 鈥� for his beliefs.
After sentencing, she told the newspaper she and her husband had spent tens of thousands of dollars on boot camps and therapy, but 鈥渘o amount of treatment or money can overcome addiction.鈥� She also apologized to the victim and gave him a hug as they left the courtroom.
