The man charged in the April arson attack at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence was sentenced Tuesday to decades in prison after pleading guilty to several charges.
Cody A. Balmer, 38, pleaded guilty to attempted murder, aggravated arson, 22 counts of arson, burglary and other offenses at a court hearing, according to the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office. Under the plea deal, he was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in state prison, the district attorney’s office said in a statement.
Prosecutors accused Balmer of breaking into the Governor’s Residence in Harrisburg and setting it on fire on April 13, the second day of Passover. Shapiro, who is Jewish, was having a Passover Seder at the home the night before the attack, according to officials.
Security footage shows an intruder climbing the property’s fence, approaching the home’s piano room on the south side of the house and breaking an exterior window with a hammer, according to a probable cause affidavit. The affidavit says that the intruder then threw a Molotov cocktail inside, setting the house ablaze. Prosecutors said the residence sustained “substantial damage.”
Firefighters respond to a fire at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence in Harrisburg, Pa., on April 13.Capital City Fire Photos
The Democratic governor, first lady Lori Shapiro, several members of the governor’s staff and others were in the home when the fire erupted in the early hours of the morning, but were safely evacuated.
A representative for the governor’s office did not immediately return a request for comment. Shapiro and his wife are set address the guilty pleas from the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex on Tuesday morning.
A lawyer for Balmer did not immediately return a request for comment.
Roughly 12 hours after the April attack, Balmer turned himself in to the Pennsylvania State Police and admitted to “harboring hatred toward Governor Shapiro,” according to authorities.
The probable cause affidavit says that Balmer said he would have beaten the governor with his hammer when asked in the police interview what he’d do had he come face to face with Shapiro.
Politicians on both sides of the aisle widely condemned the attack, one of several high-profile acts of political violence plaguing the United States in recent years. In June, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman, her husband and their dog were fatally shot in their home, in what officials described as “politically motivated” killings.
Brittany Kubicko contributed.
