5 men who burned Gainesville police car each get federal prison sentences

Each of the five defendants pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit arson and will spend more than a year in federal prison.

Credit: File photo

Credit: File photo

Each of the five defendants pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit arson and will spend more than a year in federal prison.

Five Hall County men who pleaded guilty to burning a Gainesville police car in June 2020 have each been sentenced to more than a year in federal prison.

The defendants each pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiring to commit arson, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Kurt Erskine said Wednesday in a news release. Each man was also sentenced to three years of supervised release following their prison terms.

Jesse James Smallwood, 22, Delveccho Waller Jr., 23, and Judah Coleman Bailey, 21, were each sentenced to one year and nine months behind bars. Dashun Martin, 24, was sentenced to one year and five months, and Bruce Thompson, 23, got one year and two months.

According to Erskine, the men gathered together on the evening of June 1, 2020, to participate in what was supposed to be a peaceful protest against the killing of George Floyd.

“The defendants sought out and intentionally destroyed a police vehicle using the cover of legitimate peaceful protest,” Erskine said.

The five men met at a pharmacy in downtown Gainesville and talked about the location where they knew a police car was parked. Bailey brought a flare gun with him. Together, the men decided to find the police car so one of them could shoot a flare into it and set it on fire.

Smallwood drove the group to an apartment complex where the officer lived, Erskine said. At the apartments, the men concealed their faces with ski masks and bandanas before Bailey shot a flare through the car’s rear window. The group fled the complex but were arrested shortly after thanks to a tip from a witness.

Multiple officials noted the distinction between peaceful protests and opportunistic criminals seeking to create chaos.

“We are not focused on peaceful protests, but instead concentrating on identifying, investigating and disrupting those individuals who are taking advantage of the protests to incite violence and engage in criminal activity,” FBI Atlanta Special Agent Chris Hacker said.

“We want our community to know we stand with them during their rights to peacefully protest. However, these defendants did not peacefully protest; rather, they took this opportunity to target one of our officers at his residence,” Gainesville police Chief Jay Parrish said.

The defendants were also ordered to pay restitution of more than $3,600 to the Gainesville Police Department, Erskine said.