JACKSON, Miss.—Clad in an orange Madison County Inmate jumpsuit with thick bandages over his hands, a nest of tangled hair and what appeared to be a rosary tattoo winding down his left arm, synagogue arson suspect Stephen Spencer Pittman carried a devotional Bible for prisoners as he walked into federal court on Tuesday.
The suspect in the Jan. 10 burning of the Beth Israel Congregation synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi, pleaded not guilty and will remain detained until his trial on Feb. 23 in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate.
Now released from the hospital after suffering from burns, Pittman appeared in the Court of Magistrate Judge LaKeysha Greer Isaac in Jackson on federal charges of maliciously damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or an explosive.
The arson suspect’s time in court is only just beginning. His court-appointed lawyer, public defender Mike Scott, argued today that he posed neither a flight risk nor a threat to members of the community, further asserting that arson—in this case, the burning of the Jewish house of worship—was not a crime of violence.
Pittman, he said, had threatened no one specifically.
“He has made no threats in particular. He may have made general threats,” Scott conceded, but not threats to any specific member of the Beth Israel Congregation. “The government has sought to play the court’s emotions and the emotions of the crowd,” he said.
Prosecutors conceded that Pittman’s local ties, lack of funds, and injuries made flight unlikely, but countered that Pittman’s alleged crime represented far more than simple nonviolent arson.
Pittman “used gasoline to set fire to a place of worship,” Prosecutor Matt Allen said, and with the express purpose of targeting a religious community. Multiple firsthand allegations that Pittman has exhibited increasingly erratic behavior and antisemitic language, he continued, indicated a risk to the Jewish community of Mississippi—or even to his parents.
An FBI affidavit, first reported on Jan. 12, said that Pittman confessed to lighting a fire inside the building, calling it a “synagogue of Satan”—borrowing an antisemitic term espoused by the likes of Black nationalist Louis Farrakhan and white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
After a brief recess, Isaac concurred with the prosecution, denying Pittman bond.
“The government has met its burden that no conditions would ensure the safety of the community,” she said today. “The court does find that Mr. Pittman shall remain detained until the date of his trial. He shall remain in the custody of the (U.S.) Marshall service.”
Much of the day’s testimony was covered in previous filings, including Pittman’s alleged confession to FBI agents from the hospital, and his father tracking him with the Life360 app and reporting his actions to law enforcement. But more details emerged on Tuesday regarding Pittman’s behavior before Beth Israel burned.
Ariel Williams, special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, summarized the interviews the agency has conducted. Friends of Pittman recounted recent and increasingly erratic behavior, alleging he engaged in antisemitic speech and that he stated a desire to burn a synagogue. Pittman’s father said the same, telling the FBI that even the family pets were afraid of him, and that they were considering locking their doors at night because of the defendant’s behavior.
Recently, Pittman made “offensive comments” to his mother, Williams alleged, adding that when his father stepped in to defend her, he “bowed up,” a physical confrontation that Pittman’s father was eventually able to de-escalate. Few other details of Pittman’s recent life emerged: beyond that in the last month, he’d started “day trading.”
Pittman’s trial is set for next month, in the courtroom of Judge Henry T. Wingate. He also faces state charges for first-degree burning of a house of worship with a hate-crime enhancement.