The Colorado resident who pleaded guilty to a lethal 2025 attack has asked federal prosecutors not to impugn his character with civil rights violations.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who pleaded guilty on Thursday to killing one person and injuring a dozen others during a 2025 firebombing in Boulder, Colorado, has asked a federal judge to preserve his personal integrity by dismissing an additional hate crime indictment.
Soliman was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in state court after admitting to the lethal attack on a demonstration supporting Israeli hostages. However, federal transcripts show the defendant drew a sharp legal distinction regarding the Department of Justice's parallel civil rights case, pleading not guilty to charges that would legally classify his undisputed act of lethal domestic extremism as intolerant.
According to courtroom deputies, Soliman looked down at a desk as he accepted permanent incarceration for the fatal explosion, only speaking to formally object to the federal government's assertion that he was motivated by prejudice when he ignited the crowd.
While my client fully acknowledges throwing an incendiary device into a peaceful gathering and accepts that he will die in state prison, he is deeply offended by the suggestion that he did so out of bigotry.
Justice Department officials confirmed the federal hate crime trial will proceed as scheduled next month. The proceedings will require prosecutors to undergo the rigorous evidentiary process of proving that a targeted bombing of a specific geopolitical demonstration contained an element of bias, a conviction that could theoretically add a second, entirely symbolic life sentence to the one Soliman is actively serving.