The suspect accused of attempting to set Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s mansion on fire while he and his family slept inside has pleaded guilty to all charges at the Dauphin County Courthouse on Tuesday.
Cody Balmer, 38, pleaded guilty to dozens of charges related to the Apr. 13 attack, including the attempted murder of Shapiro, terrorism, 22 counts of arson, and 21 counts of reckless endangerment, according to the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office.
Balmer received a state prison sentence of 25 years to 50 years. He will not be eligible for parole until April 13, 2050, when he is 63 years old.
The governor fully supported Tuesday’s plea deal and said it showed “real accountability” for political violence in the United States.
“It’s hard for me to stand before you today and utter the words ‘attempted murder’ when it’s your own life,” Shapiro said during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, addressing Balmer’s guilty plea. “It’s especially hard to know that he tried to burn our family to death while we slept.”
Shapiro confessed that the “hardest part” was trying to explain the incident to his four children and his nieces and nephews.
“I’ve carried with me this enormous sense of guilt,” Shapiro said. “Guilt that doing this job that I love so much has put our children’s lives at risk. It’s been really hard, and candidly, I don’t know that I’ve been able to give them the right answers.”
On the night of the second day of Passover, Balmer climbed a fence on the north side of Shapiro’s residence, broke a glass window of the home, went inside, and set sections of the home on fire as the Democratic governor—whose family is Jewish—his wife, children, and others were sleeping inside.
The Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office released new video on Tuesday showing the suspect setting fire inside the state dining room and damaging multiple areas of the property.
“How were they able to get so far into the governor’s residence, the place that was supposed to be the safest place we could possibly be?” Shapiro asked. “As you saw from the videos that the district attorney played, he was able to penetrate the residence right up to a door that led to the hallway where we were in our private living quarters.”
Shapiro said the video footage from that night had been “haunting” him for months.
Nobody inside the home was injured in the attack. However, Shapiro and his family had to be awakened and evacuated.
Balmer turned himself in nearly 12 hours after the attack.
Balmer declined to address the judge in court on Tuesday, but defense attorney Bryan Walk said the suspect “is taking full responsibility” and paying a “hefty price” for the crimes.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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