A man has been found guilty of arson after setting fire to a mezuzah at UC Berkeley’s Hillel branch while students were inside celebrating Shabbat earlier this year.
David William Denton used a cigarette lighter to damage the paper scroll within the mezuzah, which was affixed to the exterior door of the building, on February 6, according to Alameda County prosecutors.
He was witnessed by a security guard, per the police report on the incident.
The arson impaired the mezuzah scroll, though the extent of the damage is not publicly known.
On Wednesday, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Delia Trevino confirmed the case was being treated as a hate crime. She also stated that Denton had prior convictions and was on probation or parole at the time that he committed the arson.
District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson said: “Targeting and burning a sacred religious symbol is an act that can cause harm far beyond the physical damage itself.
“People of every faith should be able to practice their religion and gather in their communities without fear of intimidation.”
Denton was previously charged with second-degree robbery with a deadly weapon connected to a separate alleged assault on the same night, in which a man was struck with a rock and had a piece of artwork stolen.
However, the DA’s office requested that the charge be dropped back in April.
Denton had previously been charged with burgling and vandalising the Berkeley Hillel and damaging mezuzahs at Congregation Beth El and at UC Berkeley Chabad Director Rabbi Gil Leeds’ home. The alleged offences all took place within the same 24-hour period.
However, a 2021 plea deal saw him convicted of one count of misdemeanor vandalism and placed on probation, according to the Berkeley Scanner.
Leeds said back in February that “when someone who previously carried out an antisemitic vandalism spree, including damaging the mezuzah at our home, is arrested again, as you can imagine, it raises serious questions about what more can be done to protect the community”.
Rabbi Adam Naftalin-Kelman, executive director of Berkeley Hillel, said that the affected mezuzah was changed the day after the arson attack and that the Shabbat celebration continued unimpeded.
Denton will face up to three years in prison during his September 3 sentencing hearing, and will be compelled to register as an arson offender, according to prosecutors.
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