Ohio man pleads guilty to smashing windows at Vice President Vance’s home
Twenty-six-year-old William D. Defur pleaded guilty in federal court to two charges related to damage to the home of U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance in Cincinnati, Ohio. The charges involve violent acts against officials or government property, as well as the intentional destruction of property of the United States.
The Hill reports, citing the U.S. Department of Justice. The incident occurred around midnight on January 5. Secret Service agents spotted Defur as he ran along the front fence of the Vance family’s home.
Circumstances of the incident
According to the Department of Justice, the man crossed onto private property near the driveway. He struck the driver’s-side window of an unmarked federal law enforcement vehicle blocking the entrance three times with a hammer and also smashed glass windows at the front of the house.
Federal prosecutors said the blows damaged reinforced protective elements on each window that belonged to the federal government. The damage was estimated at $28,000. The Secret Service detained Defur shortly after the incident. At the time, Vance and his family were in Washington.
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Possible punishment
Defur faces up to 20 years in prison — up to 10 years for each of the two charges to which he pleaded guilty. The sentence will be determined by U.S. District Judge Douglas R. Cole.
Dominic S. Gerace II, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, said that violence against political leaders, their families, or property is unacceptable and that officials must be able to carry out their duties without threats, vandalism, and other manifestations of violence.
According to WKRC-TV, Defur was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and his lawyer previously said that his client’s actions were not politically motivated. The man’s mother told the television channel in January that mental illness had radically changed her son’s life.
