Mohamed Soliman changed his plea to guilty on 12 federal hate crime counts over the June 2025 firebomb attack on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall.
Mohamed Soliman appeared Thursday in federal court in Colorado and changed his plea to guilty on 12 charges, CBS News reported. The hearing began at 10 a.m. at the Arraj Courthouse. The judge found him competent to plead guilty to every count.
Soliman had pleaded not guilty to the federal charges on June 27, 2025. His change of plea resolves the federal case's question of guilt and leaves only sentencing.
According to prosecutors, Soliman threw two Molotov cocktails at a group gathered on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. One person was killed and more than a dozen others were injured.
The federal case against Soliman consisted of 12 counts. One count was a hate crime resulting in death, tied to the victim Karen Diamond. Seven counts were hate crime violations involving bodily injury and intent to kill, in which prosecutors alleged he willfully caused bodily injury.
Another count was a hate crime involving an attempt to cause bodily injury and an attempt to kill, in which he willfully caused bodily injury with an explosive or incendiary device. Two counts were for using fire or an explosive to commit a felony, and one was for carrying an explosive during the commission of a felony.
The attack took place during a gathering of the group Run for Their Lives. The group was demonstrating in support of Israeli captives held by Hamas. At the time, it had marched through downtown Boulder every Sunday for more than a year. Each week the marchers walked along the Pearl Street Mall and ended at the historic Boulder County Courthouse.
Soliman pleaded guilty to state charges in May of this year. Those included more than 100 counts, among them first-degree murder. The judge imposed a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the murder conviction. He added 2,128 years in prison for the other charges.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado Peter McNeilly said the federal case serves a purpose beyond the state prosecution. "The federal case holds Mohamed Soliman responsible for the hateful ideology that drove his violent acts in June 2025 in Boulder, Colorado," McNeilly said.
McNeilly said the plea to federal hate crimes reflects that Soliman was motivated by his belief that the people he targeted were Jewish and Israeli. He said that belief is why Soliman carried out the violence that day.
Sentencing is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Jan. 7, 2027. CBS News reported that the judge has not made up his mind about the sentence. The judge said the federal sentencing guidelines are only a guide and that he may not follow them.
CBS News also reported that Gov. Polis is requesting life in prison plus 50 years. The report did not provide further detail on that request.
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