DOUGLAS, AZ — Guilty of arson and hate crimes—that’s the jury’s verdict against a man who burned two churches in Douglas because he thought it was an insult against God for one church to be led by a gay man, and another to be led by a woman.
“It was a shock to the City of Douglas when two historic churches, each of them more than a hundred years old, were deliberately burned. It did not take long for investigators to point to Eric Ridenour as the culprit; and it did not take long for a jury to convict him.
Glenn Hoffman was the foreman of the jury.
“It’s sad to think that a man who represents himself as being a staunch strict follower of the Bible, can do something so evil and hateful.”
He calls the evidence against Ridenour a slam dunk. It included store video of Ridenour buying the same sort of charcoal lighter fluid found in the fire debris at First Presbyterian church. There was surveillance video of Ridenour’s car driving away from the churches as smoke started to show over St. Stephen’s Episcopal.
St. Stephen’s is the church where Reverend John Caleb Collins led the congregation.
"I believe justice in this case would be for him to serve a sentence. I do still pray for his repentance. I pray for him to have a change of heart and mind because like I said, it was really sad that he mentioned God. He mentioned Jesus. He mentioned he claimed to be a Christian. He never mentioned love or justice."
Reverend Collins testified Ridenour told him the Bible says women and gays must not be church leaders. Collins is gay. The pastor at First Presbyterian is a woman.
Federal law regards burning a church as a hate crime designed to prevent someone from practicing their faith.
If Judge Scott Rash imposes the maximum sentences on all six counts, Ridenour could face a total of 130 years in prison. Ridenour will learn his punishment in late October.
