An Irving man who tried to torch a courthouse in retaliation for a drug case against him was sentenced Wednesday to 41 years in Federal prison.
Timothy York, 32, intended to use a Molotov cocktail to burn down the Cooke County Courthouse in Gainesville in retaliation for state criminal charges that were filed against him, including the seizure of his car, prosecutors said.
Angry that authorities had seized his GMC Suburban as part of a drug case, he threw the homemade bomb at the courthouse in February 2006, the Gainesville Weekly News reported.
Passers-by put out the fire before it did much damage.
He also had the home address and phone number of the judge handling his case and talked about killing her, the newspaper said.
In September 2007, a federal grand jury charged York with arson, using a destructive device during a violent crime, and possessing an unregistered firearm.
On Oct. 31, a jury convicted him of the charges.
U.S. District Judge Richard Schell sentenced York to 497 months in federal prison, or more than 41 years.
