SEATTLE — A federal judge sentenced an Olympia man to 11 years in prison Friday for arson and a shooting aimed at three Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Halls in Western Washington, bringing an end to a case that shook Jehovah’s Witnesses across the region.
Prosecutors say 52-year-old Mikey Starrett, also known as Michael Layes, started fires at Kingdom Halls in Tumwater and Olympia in March 2018, then returned to the Olympia hall several months later to set another fire that destroyed the building. Prosecutors said Starrett also shot 16 rounds into the walls, windows and parking lot of a Kingdom Hall in Yelm in May 2018. All told, prosecutors say the Kingdom Halls sustained $700,000 damage.
Starrett has been in federal custody since he was arrested in September 2021. Although he initially denied the allegations, Starrett pleaded guilty in May to four counts of damaging religious property and one firearm-related count. The plea agreement acknowledged that Starrett “acted because of the religious character of the property.” The four counts of damaging religious property were federal hate crimes, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say Starrett told friends and family that he did not like Jehovah’s Witnesses and “believed the spirits of deceased Jehovah’s Witnesses were haunting him,” according to a sentencing memo prosecutors filed this month. They say Starrett viewed Kingdom Halls on Google Maps and searched online for things like “Jehovah Witness refuse military service” and “Jehovah Witness leadership.”
Describing the crimes as an “escalating campaign of violence against Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Halls” in Western Washington, prosecutors recommended a 14-year prison sentence.
Starrett’s defense attorneys pointed to childhood trauma Starrett experienced and other factors to argue for a shorter seven-year sentence.
In a letter to the court, Starrett, a former wildlife biologist and environmental consultant, wrote, “I cannot justify my actions.”
“Please know that I have absolutely no hate for the Jehovah Witnesses. My entire belief system has changed, and I am ashamed of my actions,” Starrett wrote. “I’m not the same person that committed these inexcusable crimes and I can assure everyone that I will never bother the Jehovah Witnesses community again. I carry no animosity towards any individual other than myself.”
Beyond the damage to the Kingdom Halls, prosecutors emphasized the psychological harm the crimes caused to those who worshipped at Kingdom Halls across the region.
The attacks “irrevocably destroyed the sense of safety and peace that a house of worship is supposed to provide, and caused severe, permanent harm to the Jehovah’s Witness community in Washington,” they wrote. “These were not crimes against buildings, but a series of attacks against a community and a faith.”
Statements from local Jehovah’s Witnesses, read aloud at the sentencing hearing, described fears of whether “the arsonist would strike again with people inside” and worries “someone would come to a meeting with a gun,” according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.
“Any new face at the meeting made me worry,” one statement read.
Early last year, community members held the first service at the reconstructed Kingdom Hall in Olympia, built by volunteer labor and donations.
