John T. Earnest was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Thursday. He has been given the sentence for his involvement in a South California synagogue shooting in 2019, which killed one and injured three others.

Earnest, who is a former nursing student, was spared capital punishment after his legal representation brokered a deal with the prosecutors. However, the court sessions gave victims and families their first opportunity to address the killer directly during victim-impact statements in San Diego Superior Court.

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The 22-year-old’s attorney said that his request to speak at the trial was declined by US Judge Peter Deddeh, who said that he did not want his courtroom to turn into “a political forum” that discussed white supremacist views.

“I’m not going to let him use this as a platform to add to his celebrity,” the judge said. There was no visible reaction from Earnest, who stared straight ahead, according to reports from Associated Press.

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Minutes after the shooting, Earnest called a 911 dispatcher to say he shot up the synagogue to save white people. “I’m defending our nation against the Jewish people, who are trying to destroy all white people,” he said.

The San Diego man admired the gunman who killed dozens of worshippers at two New Zealand mosques shortly before he attacked Chabad of Poway, a synagogue near San Diego, on April 27, 2019, according to reports from Associated Press.

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He frequented 8chan, a dark corner of the internet, for those disaffected by mainstream social media sites to post extremist, racist and violent views.

The victims of Earnest’s 2019 shooting included Lori Gilbert, a 60-year-old who was killed in the incident after being shot twice while praying. 

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein and her 8-year-old niece were wounded in the shooting, which was carried out with a semi-automatic rifle.