A New Jersey man will spend 70 months in prison for threats he made to detonate explosives at a religious service attended annually by Supreme Court justices.
Louis Geri, 42, pleaded guilty in March to Hobbs Act extortion via wrongful use of fear, force or violence and to possession of an unregistered destructive device.
In addition to his prison term, Geri will serve three years of supervised release, the Office of the U.S. Attorney’ for the District of Columbia said Monday.
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Geri set up a tent on the steps of Washington’s Cathedral of St. Matthew on Oct. 4, the day before the annual Red Mass attended by Supreme Court justices, members of the Cabinet and Congress, diplomats and other officials, federal prosecutors said.
Inside the tent, he had more than 100 explosives from material bought in Arkansas and assembled in Virginia. He also had a nine-page list of demands.
On the morning the Red Mass was to be held, Geri refused to move when ordered by Metropolitan Police and threatened to throw an explosive to show how strong it was, prosecutors said.
Geri wanted to use the bombs to induce officials to agree to several demands, including that the Supreme Court strip Arizona of its statehood, expel it from the country and declare it a foreign enemy of the U.S.
Other demands included paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to Geri and others, hotel accommodations and an expatriation flight to Japan. He also made demands of Jewish and Catholic religious leaders, prosecutors said.
Due to the incident, none of the justices of the Supreme Court attended the 2025 Red Mass, according to National Catholic Reporter.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss said he considered Geri’s mental health issues when sentencing him.
In a memorandum hoping to lighten the sentence, Geri’s attorney, Elizabeth Mullin, said he stopped taking his medication for bipolar disorder in the months leading up to the incident following the April 2025 death of his father.
This article is based in part on wire service reports.
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