![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260615-Tillman-sentencing-02-KQED.jpg\")
Richard Tillman\u2019s burned out car is seen in the destroyed lobby of a South San Jos\u00e9 post office on July 20, 2025. (Courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s Office)<\/p>\n\u201cI didn\u2019t burn down a building for no reason. I\u2019ve been trying to get people\u2019s attention for a long time,\u201d Tillman said.<\/p>\n
Davila, after hearing Tillman\u2019s statement, raised the prospect of whether mental fitness proceedings were needed, but Assistant Federal Public Defender Varell Fuller, representing Tillman, declined.<\/p>\n
Fuller said Tillman\u2019s \u201cviews may be unpopular and they may be unorthodox,\u201d but that he didn\u2019t doubt his ability to understand what was happening to him.<\/p>\n
Richard Tillman\u2019s burned out car is seen in the destroyed lobby of a South San Jos\u00e9 post office on July 20, 2025. (Courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s Office)<\/p>\n
Davila also checked directly with Tillman, verifying he understood who his attorney was, and the circumstances he faces.<\/p>\n
Tillman affirmed, saying, \u201cI\u2019m going to jail for five years.\u201d He added, \u201cI did the crime and I am more than happy to do the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 45-year-old arrived in court in a dark green Elmwood Jail jumpsuit, with long straight salt and pepper hair, and a mostly gray long beard.<\/p>\n
His mother, father and older brother, who were in court, declined to comment after the proceedings. Fuller also declined to comment.<\/p>\n
Authorities said that in the early morning hours of July 20, Tillman loaded his car with \u201cinstalogs\u201d he bought from a grocery store and soaked them in lighter fluid.<\/p>\n
He then backed the car into the glass doors of the Almaden Valley U.S. Post Office branch at 6525 Crown Blvd. and used a match to light the car on fire, which spread to the building and caused significant damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lobby of the post office, which was open to the public during business hours for retail transactions and access to post office boxes prior to the fire, was completely destroyed and remains closed to the public to this day,\u201d Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Pitman wrote in his sentencing filings.<\/p>\n
Tillman \u201cintentionally set a massive fire which caused millions of dollars\u2019 worth of damage, destroyed mail belonging to hundreds of people and could easily have injured or killed firefighters, Postal Service employees, or civilian bystanders,\u201d Pitman wrote.<\/p>\n
He wanted to \u201cmake a point to the United States government\u201d with the fire, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office said previously.<\/p>\n
Fuller wrote that Tillman \u201cfully appreciates the seriousness and unlawfulness of his offense,\u201d and he noted the fire was set around 3 a.m., when the post office was closed and unoccupied.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was never Mr. Tillman\u2019s intention to harm or injure anyone, and fortunately, no member of the public, postal employee or emergency responder was injured,\u201d Fuller wrote.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said Tillman livestreamed the fire on his YouTube account and kept the phone camera rolling while he spoke with firefighters and police officers, who later stopped the stream when they found the phone.<\/p>\n
Tillman was arrested that morning and initially charged in state court in Santa Clara County.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/250723-TILLMAN-JG_QED-KQED.jpg\")
Santa Clara County Assistant District Attorney Angela Bernhard speaks during a press conference following an arraignment hearing for Richard Tillman at the Hall of Justice in San Jos\u00e9 on July 23, 2025. (Jospeh Geha\/KQED)<\/p>\n
But his case was suspended by a judge so doctors could evaluate his competency to stand trial.<\/p>\n
Later, after a federal indictment for the same incident was filed against Tillman, local prosecutors dismissed their case.<\/p>\n
The maximum federal sentence Tillman could have faced was 20 years.<\/p>\n
Fuller noted in court filings that because Tillman has no criminal history and because he accepted responsibility for the crime, his recommended sentence range could have been between 37 and 46 months. However, the minimum sentence for the crime of malicious destruction of government property by fire is five years.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors and the federal public defender\u2019s office agreed that the sentence in the plea agreement was \u201csufficient, but not greater than necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tillman\u2019s brother, Pat Tillman Jr., was killed in Afghanistan in 2004 when members of his U.S. platoon fired on him and an Afghan militia member, mistaking them for enemy fighters.<\/p>\n
The U.S. government subsequently attempted to cover up the truth about the killing, including by instructing an officer to lie to the soldier\u2019s family about the circumstances of his death.<\/p>\n
Fuller wrote that Richard Tillman \u201clived a productive, law-abiding life for extended periods\u201d and \u201cenjoyed success in the entertainment industry and later became an author and stay-at-home father who devoted years to raising his children as their primary caregiver.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the death of Pat Tillman Jr. had a significant impact on Tillman, along with other struggles in his personal and family life, including a divorce, strain in his family relationships and repeated attempts to seek mental health treatment.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SanJoseCourthouse.jpg\")
The brother of late NFL player Pat Tillman was sentenced to five years in prison for setting fire to a San Jos\u00e9 post office last year. (Joseph Geha\/KQED)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe death of his brother, Pat Tillman, profoundly affected him and appears to have marked the beginning of many of the difficulties that followed,\u201d Fuller wrote. \u201cBy the time of the offense, Mr. Tillman\u2019s life had largely unraveled. He was estranged from much of his family, experiencing periods of homelessness and increasingly isolated from the support systems that had previously provided stability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said Tillman\u2019s \u201chistory and characteristics present a complex picture, particularly in light of the profound sacrifices he and his family have made in service to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tillman, however, \u201ccurrently possesses both a warped worldview and the ability to plan and execute violent attacks based on that worldview,\u201d prosecutors wrote. \u201cThis is a dangerous combination.\u201d<\/p>\n
In recent years, Tillman often livestreamed on his YouTube account from behind the wheel of a parked car. He referred to himself as a god by the name of \u201cYeshua,\u201d railed against the government, and addressed posts to Taylor Swift as \u201cSweet Divine Soulmate Baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fuller asked that Tillman be placed in a minimum-security facility and be allowed to participate in substance abuse treatment programs.<\/p>\n
He also requested, and the judge granted a payment schedule for the restitution, \u201crequiring payments of $50 per month, or at least 10% of his gross monthly earnings, whichever is greater.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI didn\u2019t burn down a building for no reason. I\u2019ve been trying to get people\u2019s attention for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":["post-361923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}