Couple That Threw Firebombs at U. Pittsburgh Michael Knowles Event Sentenced to Prison and to Pay Restitution
“Brian DiPippa will spend five years in prison, followed by three years of supervision.”
It is insane that this even happened and even though there are real consequences here, they seem pretty light.
The College Fix reports:
Couple that threw firebombs at Michael Knowles event sentenced to prison, $50,000 in fines
The couple that threw firebombs at a Michael Knowles event at the University of Pittsburgh was sentenced to prison and $50,000 in fines Monday.
Brian and Krystal DiPippa “entered a packaged plea deal with federal courts after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy and obstruction of law enforcement,” The Pitt News reported.
Brian DiPippa will spend five years in prison, followed by three years of supervision. Krystal DiPippa “was sentenced to three years of probation and 240 hours of community service to ‘restorative justice’ causes,” the outlet reported.
Further, the couple is required to pay $47,284 to a Pitt police officer who suffered a spinal injury during the incident, along with $1,400 to the Pitt Police Department to cover damages to equipment and uniforms.
The injured officer gave a statement during the hearing Monday, saying, “I woke up on April 18 with the intent of helping and serving the community in any way that I could,” Pitt News reported.
“Brian DiPippa woke up that morning with the sole purpose to attack and harm police officers,” he said.
Approximately 30 people attended the sentencing hearing to show support for the DiPippas, many carrying small trans flags as a nod to the Knowles event on transgenderism.
The Department of Justice first announced its indictment of the couple June 30, as previously reported by The College Fix.
They threw the “incendiary device” during violent protests against the April debate between conservative Michael Knowles and libertarian Brad Polumbo on transgenderism and whether it should be regulated by law. Protesters also set a picture of Knowles on fire.
Many thanks to the law enforcement officers and prosecutors who forced these left-wing terrorists to face at least some consequences for their actions. The judge was far too lenient, but it’s something. pic.twitter.com/YfrZ189rom
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) January 7, 2025
CORRECTION (waj): As noted in the comments, while the College Fix described the monetary relief as “fines” it appears to be “restitution” which is legally distinct. The headline has been adjusted.
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Comments
many carrying small trans flags
So, they were politicizing the case? Not surprising at all.
Also, these folks were obviously not lawyers with “promising futures” or some such, since they received actual punishment.
They weren’t fined. That is restitution. And it appears to have been a plea bargain.
Did you mean “were?” The article is pretty clear on that.
The article is wrong. I find that the College Fix routinely misquotes and misrepresents its sources. You can’t rely on anything you see there without checking the sources it links to, because they often say something different.
As in this case. College Fix‘s source is Pitt News. The headline there is “Couple charged in Knowles protest sentenced to prison and probation and owe nearly $50,000 in damages”, and it goes on to say “Together, the couple was sentenced to pay nearly $50,000 in restitution. The DiPippas were ordered to pay $47,284 to a Pitt Police officer who sustained a spinal injury from the couple’s actions and $1,400 to the Pitt Police department for damages to equipment and uniforms.” No fines.
Yes. I was curious because I’m in Allegheny County and as a policy the Common Pleas courts (Pennsylvania State courts) here do not impose fines on criminal defendants with the exceptions of mandatory ones (on crimes like DUIs) and summary offenses (basically traffic ticket level offenses). Most of the time all you get is restitution.
This case went federal and I believe they do issue fines so I’m somewhat curious all around. Perhaps they omitted fines so that the restitution could be paid in a timely manner.
Their defense was that they thought they were in a San Diego fraternity house…
Fines and restitution are not just “legally distinct”. They are completely different things. I don’t understand how they could be confused. Either you are paying a penalty to the government, or you are paying damages to your victim. You can’t be doing both at the same time with the same money.
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