A Philly man will serve five years in federal prison for the torching of a cop car during racial justice protests
Khalif Miller, 27 — who had previously been critical of his prosecution — told a judge Monday that he was sorry for his actions during the demonstrations in 2020.
A Southwest Philadelphia man was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison for his role in the torching of a police car outside City Hall during the 2020 racial justice protests.
Khalif Miller, 27, told the judge he was sorry for his actions, which prosecutors described as throwing papers into a burning cruiser as dozens of demonstrators gathered nearby. For that conduct, U.S. District Chief Judge Juan R. Sánchez imposed a 61-month penalty.
As recently as last year, Miller had been harshly critical of the case against him, casting himself as a political scapegoat being unfairly targeted. But Monday, he told Sánchez he now believes his behavior during the May 2020 demonstration — sparked by the murder of George Floyd — may have taken away from the reason he attended in the first place: to raise awareness about the need for better integration of mental health professionals within law enforcement.
“I regret it,” Miller said. “Honestly, I really regret it.”
Miller was the fourth defendant to be sentenced on charges stemming from the destruction of police vehicles during the protests, and his sentence was the stiffest so far. Still, it could have been worse: By pleading guilty last year, Miller avoided being convicted of a federal arson charge, which carries a seven-year mandatory minimum sentence.
Sánchez also told Miller he believed the punishment was necessary due to the severity of the offenses. In addition to admitting he obstructed law enforcement during a civil disorder, Miller pleaded guilty to illegally possessing firearms when federal agents searched his house to arrest him in October 2020. Miller was ineligible to possess guns because of a 2015 conviction for involuntary manslaughter.
“You committed two pretty serious offenses in this case,” said Sánchez, who ended the hearing by telling him to “stay on track.”
The proceeding marked a muted end to Miller’s sometimes-contentious case. Last summer, he wrote an open letter describing his prosecution as both an “elaborate plot” by the government to target him for his political views, and an attempt by former U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain to bolster his tough-on-crime credentials while competing to become the Republican gubernatorial nominee.
Miller also said he and two other men he was charged alongside — Carlos Matchett, of Atlantic City, and Anthony “Ant” Smith, a well-known West Philadelphia activist — had been unfairly cast as coconspirators even though they’d never met. And Miller said he hadn’t set any cars ablaze himself but was simply taking photos atop a police vehicle that was already overturned when someone else firebombed it.
“I have been targeted by the United States government as a means of political suppression for rising out in my supporting acts in the Black Lives Matter movement,” he wrote, adding that after his arrest, he was stabbed in prison and confined in conditions so appalling they violated his constitutional rights.
But prosecutors pushed back on those assertions in court documents, saying Miller’s actions during the protests endangered the lives of other demonstrators.
And during Monday’s address to the judge, Miller acknowledged he had gotten swept up in the pandemonium of the situation, and that the weapons found in his house were for his protection. He also told Sánchez about his aspirations for the future — including his hopes of restarting a business to sell and rent cars — as well as his dedication to his family.
More than a dozen friends and relatives attended the hearing, and one of them, longtime friend Joseph Farmer, said Miller has “just been a great motivation in my life.”
Although Miller’s case is now over, one of his codefendants, Smith, is scheduled to go to trial later this month. The other, Matchett, was sentenced in March to 46 months in prison plus three years of probation, court records show.
Two other people have also pleaded guilty to torching cars during the demonstrations — Ayoub Tabri, of Arlington, Va., who received a sentence of 364 days, and Lore-Elisabeth Blumenthal, of Jenkintown, who was sentenced to 2½ years.