Casey Goonan, a self-anointed “scholar activist” who admitted to carrying out a series of arson attacks as part of a protest movement, was sentenced Tuesday to nearly 20 years for firebombing a police car on the UC Berkeley campus last year.
With hair closely cropped, and dressed in a loose-fitting red shirt and red-and-white striped pants, Goonan, 35, blew a kiss to supporters in the courtroom upon entering.
“After spending over a year incarcerated, I’ve had time to reflect on the reality of my actions and the reality of my bipolar disorder. I understand that I need treatment,” Goonan said to Judge Jeffrey White ahead of sentencing. “Committing an act like this is outside of my general character as my core belief is against perpetuating harm.”
Calling the acts “callous” and “some of the most serious crimes I’ve ever seen,” White sentenced Goonan to 19 years in prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release. Goonan must also pay $94,261 in restitution.
“I have no doubt that this defendant knew exactly what he was doing at every moment that he was doing it and intended to create an air of fear and danger in our community,” said White, who was appointed to the bench in 2002 by President George W. Bush.
In January, Goonan pleaded guilty to one federal count of maliciously damaging or destroying property used in or affecting interstate commerce by means of fire or an explosive.
The charge stemmed from a series of firebombings in June 2024 in Oakland and Berkeley that Goonan, who uses they/them pronouns, carried out to protest the treatment of Palestinian supporters by University of California officials and the federal government, their defense attorney said.
Video footage shows Goonan, who has a doctorate in African American studies from Northwestern University, on June 1, 2024, setting a bag containing six Molotov cocktails on fire and placing it under a UC Berkeley police patrol car, causing it to catch fire.
On June 11, Goonan attempted to detonate Molotov cocktails inside a federal court building in Oakland but was thwarted before breaking the building’s windows. Goonan instead ignited the three homemade explosives in a planter near the building.
Goonan admitted to starting other fires on the Cal campus last year on June 1, 13, and 16. The spate of arsons was dubbed “Operation Campus Flood” by Goonan, according to prosecutors. Police arrested Goonan at their parents’ Pleasant Hill house on June 18, 2024.
“The defendant is a highly educated, unrepentant domestic terrorist who sought to use violence against law enforcement officers and the federal government,” prosecutors wrote ahead of the sentencing. They requested a term of more than 15 years “in light of Goonan’s serious criminal conduct, the motivation for his crimes, his pervasive and deeply held violent beliefs, his utter lack of remorse for his crimes, and his continuing danger to the community.”
Goonan faced up to 20 years behind bars. Their defense attorney, Jeff Wozniak, had requested an eight-year term, saying a diagnosed bipolar disorder and diabetes contributed to Goonan’s destructive behavior.
“We’re incredibly disappointed by this sentence. We think the judge went far above what is reasonable in this case, which ultimately was about property damage. Casey Goonan is an activist and has long been involved in raising awareness about Palestinian liberation and around the genocide,” Wozniak said.
Still, Wozniak said Goonan intended to turn over a new leaf.
“They recognize now that they were in the midst of a mental health crisis and that they should have chosen a different path in their activism,” Wozniak said in a statement prepared for court. “Casey is remorseful for the harm they caused to their community, and is ready to enter a new phase as an activist inside prison.”
The firebombings won Goonan the admiration of protest groups. A now-deleted Instagram post showed Columbia University demonstrators wearing “Free Casey Goonan” T-shirts. A group called UC Davis Cops Off Campus has encouraged donations to Goonan’s defense.
Goonan’s activism has been evident since college. At UC Riverside in 2012, they were part of a group that called for the abolition of prisons, demonstrating outside the Pelican Bay state lockup. While studying toward a master’s and Ph.D. from Northwestern, Goonan launched a “radical publishing collective” that sent literature to incarcerated people.
In online articles, Goonan has described the United States as a “god-awful fascist hell hole” where social injustices are “concealed under the blinders of white supremacist American reason.”
It’s a stark difference from Goonan’s adolescence. In high school in Pleasant Hill, they played on the football and baseball teams and performed in a rock band.