A Hinds County grand jury has indicted the Madison man accused of setting fire to Mississippi’s largest synagogue on a charge of first-degree arson against a place of worship, an offense the state accuses him of committing because of its “actual or perceived religion.”
Stephen Spencer Pittman,19, who usually goes by his middle name, is charged with burning the Beth Israel Congregation synagogue in northeast Jackson. He is alleged to have broken into the building before dawn Saturday and to have doused a lobby in gasoline before setting it on fire. The blaze charred parts of the building and left smoke damage throughout.
The Hinds County Circuit Court indictment was announced Tuesday, a day after Pittman’s federal arson charges were filed. While the federal government has not so far filed hate-crime charges against Pittman, the Hinds County indictment recommends that if he is convicted, his sentence be enhanced under a Mississippi law punishing “offenses committed for discriminatory reasons.”
This photo shows damage to the Beth Israel Congregation synagogue library from a fire that occurred hours earlier on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Jackson. Credit: Courtesy of Beth Israel CongregationThe state charges for arson of a place of worship carry a prison sentence of five to 30 years, as well as restitution for damages caused by the arson.
A Hinds County press release announcing the indictment says that because it “alleges the offence was motivated by hate,” Mississippi law allows enhanced punishment, including up to 60 years in prison, double the term otherwise permitted by law.
In an unusual move for local law enforcement, Pittman did not make an initial appearance in Jackson municipal court before his case was taken to a grand jury Monday.
The Hinds County indictment did not include a photograph of Pittman. Federal authorities also have not released a photo of him.
Pittman remained hospitalized Monday and his first appearance in federal court was done by video conference. He was accompanied by a federal public defender and at times appeared to be leaning back in a chair, gazing away from the camera. Both his hands were heavily bandaged.
The prosecutor, Matt Allen, moved to have Pittman detained as he awaits trial. Pittman is scheduled to be released from the hospital Wednesday and to return to federal court for a preliminary hearing Jan. 20.
If convicted on the federal charges, Pittman faces five to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
The predawn fire Saturday was set in the same part of the one-story brick building that Ku Klux Klan members bombed in 1967 because the congregation’s rabbi supported civil rights.
A marker that gives information about the 1967 firebombing of the Beth Israel Congregation synagogue is shown in Jackson on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. Credit: Bashirah Mack/Mississippi TodayFederal investigators alleged in an affidavit that Pittman sent text messages to his father in the course of setting the fire on Saturday. The father pleaded for his son to return home, the affidavit says, but Pittman “replied back by saying he was due for a homerun and ‘I did my research.’”
His father later contacted the FBI and provided GPS data showing Pittman was at the synagogue early Saturday morning.
The son “laughed as he told his father what he did and said he finally got them,” says the affidavit from Nicholas Amiano, an FBI agent in Jackson.
State leaders have condemned the attack, and the news also reverberated internationally. Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, wrote on X that she was “personally involved and my team is in touch with the US Attorney’s office locally.”
Other officials who publicly condemned the attack include the Democratic leaders in Congress, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
On Monday, U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi called on the FBI to investigate the incident as a federal hate crime.
In a news release Monday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi called the attack a “disgusting act of anti-Semitic violence,” but did not say whether federal prosecutors would seek to charge Pittman with a hate crime.
“I have directed my prosecutors to seek severe penalties for this heinous act and remain deeply committed to protecting Jewish Americans from hatred,” Bondi said.
Editor’s note: Federal and state authorities had not released a booking photograph of Stephen Spencer Pittman before publication of this article.
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