{"id":309421,"date":"2026-07-30T01:15:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T01:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/309421\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T01:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T01:15:10","slug":"judge-rips-dojs-disturbing-sentence-ask-for-troubled-man-who-drove-into-nyc-temple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/309421\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge rips DOJ\u2019s \u2018disturbing\u2019 sentence ask for troubled man who drove into NYC temple"},"content":{"rendered":"

A disturbed man who rammed his car into an iconic Brooklyn synagogue<\/a> will get out of lockup within the week, a federal judge decided Wednesday \u2014 as he slammed prosecutors for requesting a harsher sentence based on a \u201cmisunderstanding\u201d that the terrifying episode<\/a> was a hate crime.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn federal court Judge Eric Vitaliano ripped the US Department of Justice for seeking a 14-month sentence for mentally ill New Jersey resident Dan Sohail, 36, as a supposed deterrent to others from committing antisemitic crimes.<\/p>\n

\"DanSohail will be released from jail after serving more than six months in custody after the shocking episode. Kevin C Downs for the NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cA property crime is what was charged here. Not a hate crime,\u201d Vitaliano railed during Sohail\u2019s sentencing hearing. <\/p>\n

Federal sentencing guidelines for such a charge, a first-offense property crime, land at around six months in prison.<\/p>\n

The judge, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, said the Brooklyn US Attorney\u2019s Office had caved to a \u201cpopular misunderstanding\u201d that Sohail was motivated by antisemitic hate when he crashed his Honda\u00a0Accord\u00a0into the Crown Heights temple five times in January.<\/p>\n

Sohail has already spent six months in jail after being arrested Jan. 28 in the aftermath of the crash at 770 Eastern Parkway, the headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement.<\/p>\n

Vitaliano charged that the DOJ failed to live up to its stated mission of acting \u201cwithout fear or favor\u201d by seeking a punishment that was \u201cdisturbing on a deep level,\u201d the New York Daily News reported.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFear or favor about what? To proceed notwithstanding what the (people\u2019s) will might be, what the popular understanding might be, what the popular misunderstanding might be?\u201d the judge asked.<\/p>\n

The sentence of time served, plus seven days, means Sohail will likely be released from custody at some point in the next week.<\/p>\n

\"DamagedThe crash knocked the temple\u2019s door off its hinges. Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n

The crash, which knocked the temple\u2019s door off its hinges, caused $19,000 in property damage, which Sohail was ordered to pay back as part of his sentence. <\/p>\n

He will also be required to attend therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder and a personality disorder, Courthouse News reported.<\/a><\/p>\n

The strange episode unfolded soon after Sohail\u00a0had attended events inside the synagogue \u2014 including one captured in a social media video showing him happily dancing in jean shorts while donning a yarmulke. <\/p>\n

He told cops after his arrest that he\u2019d recently discovered he had Jewish roots.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is impossible to square what he did with what he believes,\u201d Sohail\u2019s public defender Mia Eisner said Wednesday, Courthouse News reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t sentence people based on initial gut reactions and first impressions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Carteret, NJ, native pleaded guilty earlier this year to a charge of intentionally damaging religious property. <\/p>\n

He had been separately charged with a state hate crime, but that charge was tossed after his guilty plea in the federal case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A disturbed man who rammed his car into an iconic Brooklyn synagogue will get out of lockup within…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[11827,57,9,56,63,65,64,8415,9500,58],"class_list":["post-309421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-brooklyn-federal-court","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-property-damage","tag-synagogues","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}