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A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to two years in federal prison Thursday for violating his probation by attempting to incite social media users to kill Jews.
Hardy Lloyd, 41, posted a social media message in April protesting the Pittsburgh City Council's ban on assault weapons after the October mass shooting incident in which a gunman killed 11 worshipers at the Tree of Life synagogue.
“Anyone who supports such laws must be targeted, and their families murdered. Lone Wolves GET BUSY," Lloyd wrote April 2, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The next day, Lloyd further expressed his disdain for the three pieces of gun control legislation that would ban certain assault-style weapons and ammunition, urging others opposed to it to kill Jewish people in Squirrel Hill, where the previous attack had occurred, if the bill was not defeated.
“If not, well, disobey and kill, my Lone Wolves. Target: Jew Hill,” he wrote in an apparent reference to Squirrel Hill.
At the time of his posts, Lloyd was out on supervised release after he disrupted a vigil in suburban Mt. Lebanon, and U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab sentenced him to prison despite calls for leniency from his family and friends.
Lloyd himself testified in court, claiming that he is mentally ill but was attempting to change by seeing a therapist.
"I'm not going to make excuses. I apologize for the anger, pain and confusion I've caused the community," Lloyd said.
Defense attorney Patrick Livingston noted that his client has mild autism and had made "significant progress" through therapy sessions and had stopped making hateful remarks since April.
The 41-year-old's father, Jon Lloyd, said: "There must be a balance between therapy and punishment. My son's illness is as real as a broken bone or colon cancer."
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Prosecutor Stephen Kaufman called on the judge to reject Lloyd's bid for supervised release, noting the April posts marked the third time Lloyd had violated probation.
"Once again, we are here,” Kaufman said, according to CBS Pittsburgh. “This time with a disgusting threat of killing people in Squirrel Hill. Unimaginable. Less than 6 months after the Tree of Life assault when 11 people were slaughtered."
Schwab acknowledged Lloyd's autism but agreed with Kaufman that previous sentences of supervised release were unsuccessful since Lloyd continued to write online posts that showed "intent and advocacy for killing."
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