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“Would stealing and American flag and setting it on fire earn anyone prison time? Absolutely not,” one Twitter user said. Iowa locals have had different opinions on Martinez’s sentence, with some saying 16 years imprisonment is excessive. On Wednesday, the court handed down a sentence of sixteen years imprisonment. Then, last month Martinez was found guilty of a hate crime - a class ‘D’ felony - third degree harassment and reckless use of fire. 30-year-old Adolfo Martinez, according to the Des Moines Register, was arrested after stealing a pride banner and later burning it outside a strip club. “But 12 people that I don’t know, who have no investment in me or this congregation, said this man committed a crime.”Īt the time of the incident, Martinez admitted to police he had stolen and burned the LGBTIQ flag. An Iowa man has been sentenced to 16 years in prison after setting a local church’s LGBTQ flag on fire this past June.
![man convicted for burning gay flag man convicted for burning gay flag](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2019/12/20/10/adolfo-martinez-mug-shot.jpeg)
“There still is a very large closeted queer community here, Adolfo Martinez of Ames was sentenced Dec. “I often experience Ames as not being as progressive as many people believe it is,” she said. flags across the nation, an Iowa man is paying a heavy price for burning a rainbow LGBT pride flag. She told the Des Moines Register although the flag burning was awful, it restored her faith in the community. Pastor of the church, Eileen Gebbie is a member of the LGBTIQ community.
![man convicted for burning gay flag man convicted for burning gay flag](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VWlFY4JzDKs/maxresdefault.jpg)
Then Martinez doused the flag in lighter fluid and burnt it outside of a strip club called Dangerous Curves Gentlemen’s Club.