California IN BRIEF : SAN JOSE : NAACP Bombing Defendant Sentenced

A former white supremacist was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison for his role in the bombing of an NAACP meeting hall in Washington state and for other explosives and weapons charges. Jeremiah Gordon Knesal, 20, had pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in the July 20, 1993, bombing, which the FBI alleged was part of a plot to ignite a race war. He also had pleaded guilty to the other charges, which stemmed from his arrest in California six days after the bombing. The blast at the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People’s hall in Tacoma, Wash., cracked two plate-glass doors but caused no injuries. FBI agents testified that the bombing was the start of a planned terror campaign intended to set off a race war. The plan included bombing synagogues, civil rights organizations and military installations as well as attacking rap singers Ice-T and Ice Cube, according to court documents. In February, Knesal pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the civil rights of African-Americans and Jews by engaging in acts of violence. He had pleaded guilty to the explosives and weapons charges two months earlier.