TOLEDO, Ohio — A federal judge sentenced a former Marine from Indiana to 20 years in prison Tuesday for starting a fire inside an Ohio mosque because he wanted revenge for the killings of American soldiers overseas.

Randy Linn, 52, apologized in court and blamed what happened on a day of heavy drinking. He said late last year while pleading guilty that he’d become enraged after seeing images of wounded soldiers in the news and decided to burn the mosque.

U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary ordered Linn, of St. Joe, Ind., to pay $1.4 million for the damages caused by the fire.

Associated Press, 16 April 2013

Update:  See “CAIR welcomes 20-year sentence for Ohio mosque arsonist”, CAIR press release, 17 April 2013

And “Judge sentences mosque arsonist, likens crime to Boston bombings”, SPLC Hatewatch, 17 April 2013