Appeals Court Upholds the Conviction of Aakash Dalal in New Jersey Anti-Semitism Case

A state appeals court last month upheld the convictions of an Indian American man and his accomplice, who were previously found guilty of terrorizing Jewish communities in Bergen County, New Jersey. Aakash Dalal and Anthony Graziano, were each sentenced in early 2017 to 35 years in prison for the anti-Semitic crimes, including the firebombing of two synagogues. They found guilty in separate trials of more than a dozen counts, for a string of 2011-2012 attacks that also included throwing Molotov cocktails into a rabbi’s home as he and his family slept. 

According to an Associated Press report, the court, on April 15, rejected numerous arguments by Dalal, a former student at Rutgers University, and Graziano, including that some evidence from a search of Dalal’s jail cell shouldn’t have been allowed in court, and a confession by Graziano to investigators after he spoke to his mother should have been suppressed. Graziano also argued his sentence was excessive. Their crimes also included vandalizing other synagogues, with spray paint messages such as “Jews did 9/11.”

As per the AP report, their lawyers also argued that the New Jersey Anti-Terrorism Act was unconstitutionally vague, which the court rejected. “A jury could reasonably conclude that defendants engaged in a campaign of actions to instill fear in the Jewish community,” the court wrote, in upholding the application of the anti-terrorism law. “Defendants were on clear notice that such a campaign would be correctly perceived as terrorism because its purpose was to instill fear in people of the Jewish faith.”

Between December 2011 and January 2012, the two had spray-painted anti-Semitic graffiti at synagogues in neighboring towns of Maywood and Hackensack, attempted to burn down Temple K’Hai Adith Jeshrun in Paramus and threw Molotov cocktails into the home of a rabbi in Rutherford. 

In separate trials at Superior Court in Hackensack 2016, Dalal, who was described as the mastermind, was convicted on 20 counts, while Graziano, who conducted the attacks, was found guilty on 18 counts. Dalal was arrested in March 2012. 

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A nj.com report noted that the two men, both 25, showed no emotion during their sentencing on July 28. They are to serve 32 years on the terrorism charge and a consecutive 36 months on bias intimidation charges. The sentences for other charges will run concurrently, the report said.

The case was the first in the state to utilize its post-9/11 terrorism statute, according to news reports. The law defines terrorism as a first-degree crime. According to the state’s Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, it encompasses acts that intend to influence or affect the conduct of government, terrorize five or more persons or interrupt public services such as communications, transportation or utilities. A conviction is punishable by between 30 years to life in prison, without possibility of parole, except in cases involving death, which carry an automatic sentence of life without parole.