Latest news with #KathrynHerold
Arab News
16-07-2025
- Arab News
State prosecution in firebombing attack on demonstration for Israeli hostages moves ahead
DENVER: A judge ruled Tuesday that Colorado prosecutors can move ahead with their case against a man accused of killing one person and injuring a dozen more in a firebomb attack on demonstrators showing support for Israeli hostages in Gaza. A police detective had been set to testify at a hearing explaining the evidence gathered against Mohamed Sabry Soliman in the June 1 attack on the weekly event in Boulder. But Soliman's lawyer, Kathryn Herold, told Judge Nancy W. Salomone that he gave up his right to hear the evidence. Soliman, wearing an orange and white striped jail uniform, told Salomone that he understood he was waiving his right to a hearing following a discussion with his lawyers Monday. Despite that, prosecutors and victims who sat across the courtroom from Soliman or watched the hearing online were caught off guard by the decision. Salomone said the case would now move ahead to an arraignment and scheduled a Sept. 9 hearing for Soliman to enter a plea to murder, attempted murder and other charges over the defense's objection. Herold said Soliman would not be ready to enter a plea then because of the large amount of evidence in the case and the murder charges recently added against him following the death of Karen Diamond, an 82-year-old woman injured in the attack. Herold said she expected to ask for the arraignment hearing to be delayed and suggested that a plea deal was possible. 20th Judicial District Attorney Michael Dougherty objected to a delay, saying any discussions could happen before and after an arraignment. He declined to comment on the possibility of a deal after the hearing. Investigators say Soliman told them he intended to kill the roughly 20 participants at the weekly event on Boulder's Pearl Street pedestrian mall. But he threw just two of more than two dozen Molotov cocktails he had with him while yelling, 'Free Palestine!' Police said he told them he got scared because he had never hurt anyone before. Federal authorities say Soliman, an Egyptian national, had been living in the US illegally with his family at the time. Soliman has pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges and is scheduled to go on trial in federal court in Denver in September. However, his lawyers told US District Judge John L. Kane last week that they expect to ask for a delay. Additional charges related to Diamond's death could also slow down the federal proceedings. Assistant US Attorney Laura Cramer-Babycz told Kane that prosecutors have not decided yet whether to file additional charges against Soliman. Federal prosecutors allege the victims were targeted because of their perceived or actual connection to Israel. But Soliman's federal defense lawyers say he should not have been charged with hate crimes because the evidence shows he was motivated by opposition to Zionism, the political movement to establish and sustain a Jewish state in Israel. An attack motivated by someone's political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law. State prosecutors have identified 29 victims in the attack. Thirteen of them were physically injured, and the others were nearby and are considered victims because they could have been hurt. A dog was also injured in the attack, so Soliman has also been charged with animal cruelty.
Boston Globe
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Suspect in Boulder, Colo., attack charged with attempted murder
Soliman is charged with 118 counts, including attempt to commit murder, assault in the first and third degrees, use of explosive or incendiary devices, cruelty to animals and crime of violence. He has also been charged with a hate crime in federal court and is jailed on a $10 million cash bond. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Soliman's attorney, Kathryn Herold, waived a formal reading of the charges Thursday in court. A preliminary hearing has been set for July 15. Advertisement Soliman had planned to kill all of the roughly 20 participants the weekly demonstration at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall, but he threw just two of his 18 Molotov cocktails while yelling 'Free Palestine,' police said. Soliman didn't carry out his full plan 'because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before,' police wrote in an affidavit. According to an FBI affidavit, Soliman told police he was driven by a desire 'to kill all Zionist people' — a reference to the movement to establish and protect a Jewish state in Israel. Authorities said he expressed no remorse about the attack. Advertisement Boulder County officials said in a news release that the victims include eight women and seven men ranging in age from 25 to 88, and a dog. Details about how the victims were impacted would be explained in criminal charges set to be filed Thursday, said Boulder County District Attorney's office spokesperson Shannon Carbone. Defendant's family investigated U.S. District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher on Wednesday granted a request to block the deportation of Soliman's wife and five children, who like Soliman are Egyptian. U.S. immigration officials took them into custody Tuesday, but they have not been charged in the attack. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Wednesday that the family was being processed for removal. 'It is patently unlawful to punish individuals for the crimes of their relatives,' attorneys for the family wrote in a lawsuit filed Wednesday afternoon. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the plaintiff's claims 'absurd' and 'an attempt to delay justice.' She said the entire family was living in the U.S. illegally. Soliman's wife, Hayam El Gamal, a 17-year-old daughter, two minor sons and two minor daughters were being held at an immigration detention center in Texas, said Eric Lee, one of the attorney's representing the family. Soliman told authorities that no one, including his family, knew he was planning an attack, according to court documents. El Gamal said she was 'shocked' to learn her husband had been arrested in the attack, according to her lawsuit. The family's immigration status Before moving to Colorado Springs three years ago, Soliman spent 17 years in Kuwait, according to court documents. He arrived in the U.S. in August 2022 on a tourist visa that expired in February 2023, McLaughlin said in a post on X. She said Soliman filed for asylum in September 2022 and was granted a work authorization in March 2023, but that has also expired. Advertisement Hundreds of thousands of people overstay their visas each year in the United States, according to Department of Homeland Security reports. Soliman's wife is an Egyptian national, according to her lawsuit. She is a network engineer and has a pending EB-2 visa, which is available to professionals with advanced degrees, the suit said. She and her children all are listed as dependents on Soliman's asylum application. A vigil for the victims Hundreds of people squeezed into the Jewish Community Center in Boulder for a vigil Wednesday evening that featured prayer, singing and emotional testimony from a victim and witnesses of the firebombing attack in the city's downtown. Rachelle Halpern, who has participated in such demonstrations since 2023, said she remembers thinking it was strange to see a man with a canister looking like he was going to spray pesticide on the grass. Then she heard a crash and screams and saw flames around her feet. 'A woman stood one foot behind me, engulfed in flames from head to toe, lying on the ground with her husband,' she said. 'People immediately, three or four men immediately rushed to her to smother the flames.' Her description prompted murmurs from the audience members. One woman's head dropped into her hands. 'I heard a loud noise, and the back of my legs burning, and don't remember those next few moments,' said a victim, who didn't want to be identified and spoke off camera, over the event's speakers. 'Even as I was watching it unfold before my eyes, even then, it didn't seem real.' Advertisement Associated Press reporters Hallie Golden in Seattle; Eric Tucker and Rebecca Santana in Washington; Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City; and Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.
TimesLIVE
03-06-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
Colorado firebomb suspect planned attack for a year, prosecutors say
During a brief court appearance on Monday, Soliman appeared via a video feed from the Boulder County Jail wearing an orange jumpsuit. He answered 'yes' to some procedural questions from the judge but otherwise did not speak. Soliman's attorney, public defender Kathryn Herold, said during the hearing she would reserve any arguments regarding his bond conditions until a future date. He was initially detained in lieu of a$10m (R179m) cash bail. The suspect faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if found guilty on the federal hate crime charge because he was also charged with attempted-murder in state court. The many attempted murder counts are punishable by up to 384 years in prison, Boulder County district attorney Michael Dougherty said. Department of homeland security officials said Soliman had entered the US in August 2022 on a tourist visa, filed for asylum the next month and remained in the country after his visa expired in February 2023. 'There are millions of individuals like this who we are attempting to locate from the past administration who weren't properly screened and were allowed in,' Todd Lyons, acting director of US immigration and customs enforcement (ICE), said during a press conference in Boston. I n a social media post, Trump called Sunday's attack 'yet another example of why we must keep our Borders secure, and deport illegal, anti-American radicals from our homeland'. Under former president Joe Biden, immigration and customs enforcement prioritised arrests of serious criminals and called for officers to consider humanitarian factors when detaining migrants. Authorities had identified eight victims by late Sunday, four women and four men, 52 to 88 years of age. Two victims remained hospitalised on Monday. In addition, four more victims who were less seriously injured came forward on Monday. Rabbi Yisroel Wilhelm, the Chabad director at the University of Colorado, Boulder, told CBS Colorado the 88-year-old victim was a Holocaust refugee who fled Europe. Sunday's attack was not the first high-profile incident of mass violence in Boulder, a university town that attracts many young professionals and outdoor enthusiasts. In 2021, a gunman fatally shot 10 people, including an off-duty police officer, in a supermarket.
