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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA man from Indiana accused of hurling Molotov cocktails at police in Portland, Oregon, and breaking windows during 2020 protests against police brutality was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Malik Muhammad, 25, initially faced dozens of charges in state and federal court stemming from protests he joined after traveling from Indianapolis to Portland.
He pleaded guilty to 14 felonies including attempted murder on Tuesday as part of a plea agreement, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. Muhammad also pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Monday to two counts of unlawful possession of a destructive device in connection with the same protests. No additional prison time is expected in that sentencing.
He traveled to Portland from his home in Indianapolis in August 2020 to engage in violence at the city’s mass protests in September and October, prosecutors said.
Muhammad was accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail that landed near a police vehicle on Sept. 5, 2020, in Southeast Portland and throwing a similar device at a line of officers downtown later that month that caught an officer’s pant leg on fire, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
In October 2020, Muhammad is accused of smashing windows of the Oregon Historical Society and a Portland State University building with a metal baton.
Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Albrecht called the plea agreement “a balanced, equitable result” noting prosecutors took into account mitigating information about Muhammad. Court documents say he’s a U.S. Army veteran who has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as well as bipolar disorder. At the time of the protests, Muhammad was not taking medication.
“We are dedicated as a community to not only reducing but ending the historic repression and discrimination that has overburdened communities of color and that we are dedicated to doing so peacefully,” Albrecht said.
Albrecht also sentenced Muhammad to pay $200,000 in restitution.
Under the agreement, Muhammad will serve his sentence in an Oregon Department of Corrections prison rather than in a federal facility.
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