The man accused of firebombing the Madison, Wisconsin, offices of the pro-life organization Wisconsin Family Action last year has pled guilty.
The Associated Press reported that Hridindu Roychowdhury of Madison filed a signed plea agreement on Monday and will face up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors, however, have agreed to recommend that the judge reduce the sentence because he has accepted responsibility for the attack. A judge will consider whether to accept the agreement or not at a hearing scheduled for December 1.
It is believed that at least two people participated in the attack, which took place on May 8 — Mother’s Day of 2022. According to the plea deal, Roychowdhury and his accomplice threw a Molotov cocktail through a window to “maliciously damage” the pro-life office. The attack was carried out just a week after the leak of the Supreme Court’s draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which showed the court would likely overturn Roe v. Wade — and it did, on June 24, 2022.
READ: Has your state experienced recent pro-abortion violence? Find out here.
At about six o’clock in the morning on May 8, a passerby noticed smoke and called 911. In a Facebook post, Wisconsin Family Action broke the news about the attack.
“What you’re going to see here is a direct threat against us,” said Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Action. “Imagine if somebody had been in the office when this happened. They would have been hurt.”
On May 10, 2022, the pro-abortion group Jane’s Revenge took credit for the attack, which, in addition to the firebombing, involved graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. The graffiti stated, “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either” and included the “anarchy” symbol and an anti-police slogan.
“Investigators used DNA evidence, surveillance and social media to track down Roychowdhury nearly a year after the incident took place,” the Journal Sentinel reported. “Key elements in the investigation included an apparent handwriting match in another graffiti incident and DNA obtained from a half-eaten burrito discarded in a garbage can.” Roychowdhury was indicted in April.
According to Catholic Vote, there have been 88 attacks on pregnancy resource centers and pro-life groups since the leak of the Dobbs draft opinion.
