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Emiliano Garduno Galvez was sentenced to four years in federal prison after admitting that he threw a Molotov cocktail at Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies during protests against immigration raids across the region last spring, according to court-related reporting. He was sentenced on Friday.
Galvez, 23, pleaded guilty in October to possessing an unregistered destructive device and civil disorder connected to the June 7 incident in Paramount, a city near Los Angeles. The Associated Press said he is a Mexican national and that authorities said he is in the U.S. illegally.
On June 7, sheriff’s deputies responded to what authorities described as a large demonstration where demonstrators were throwing rocks and other items outside a Home Depot where U.S. Border Patrol agents had gathered, AP reported. The protests were part of broader demonstrations that followed immigration enforcement actions in the area.
According to the plea agreement described in reporting, Galvez admitted that he went behind a wall, lit the Molotov cocktail, and hurled it toward the area where he had seen the deputies. The incendiary device landed in a grassy area near the foot of a protester, and the plea agreement said it was about 15 feet (4.5 meters) from the deputies.
The plea agreement also quoted Galvez’s stated intent, saying he threw the device “intending to obstruct, interfere with, and impede the LASD deputies who were lawfully engaged in performance of official duties,” AP reported.
Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement that the defendant’s actions threatened the lives and safety of law enforcement officers and a lawful protester, according to AP.
Federal public defenders asked for a more lenient sentence of three years. In a sentencing memo described by the Los Angeles Times, they said Galvez now “readily admits and acknowledges how serious his actions were and the harm that could have ensued,” AP reported.
AP reported that many of the demonstrations against the June immigration crackdown were peaceful, with marchers chanting slogans and carrying signs, but that other events included clashes with police, hundreds of arrests, and the use of chemical irritants to disperse crowds.