A jury has convicted a 45-year-old man of arson after he used a pocket torch to burn a Jewish religious scroll at the entrance of a Berkeley study center in February, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said.
Jurors found David William Denton guilty of arson in connection with the Feb. 6 blaze at a religious study center on Bancroft Way, where authorities said he vandalized and set fire to a mezuzah scroll attached to a doorway. The fire damaged the religious item, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Following the verdict, a judge ordered Denton into custody pending sentencing. He faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison and will be required to register as an arson offender if sentenced, prosecutors said.
“Targeting and burning a sacred religious symbol is an act that can cause harm far beyond the physical damage itself,” District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson said in a statement. “People of every faith should be able to practice their religion and gather in their communities without fear of intimidation.”
Denton will be sentenced on Sept. 3.