Neo-Nazi Suspect Sentenced To Prison

“Premeditated attempted murder,” is what a judge is calling a neo-Nazi hate crime that occurred on State Street in Santa Barbara.

Ryan Zietlow-Brown was sentenced to 22 years and 4 months in state prison without parole, for a white-supremacy hate crime he committed in Aug. 2011.

According to the testimony, Zietlow-Brown approached an African-American male and his white male co-worker on their way to lunch, who were both singing a song by an African-American rap group.

Zietlow-Brown approached the pair and asked “If the boy with him was white,” which the victim replied, “Yes why are you asking?” Zietlow-Brown said, “Tell him to (expletive) start acting like it.” The victim told the defendant to “mind his own business,” and the pair proceeded to McDonald’s for lunch.

As the victim and his coworker were walking back to work, the defendant approached them a second time, but with a pair of scissors in hand where he began attacking the victim by stabbing him multiple times in the head.

Zietlow-Brown fled the area but was later identified by witnesses, then arrested.

In court, Zietlow-Brown admitted that he intended to use the scissors as a deadly weapon, and orchestrated the attack on behalf of neo-Nazi Skinheads, a white supremacist gang.

Zietlow-Brown plead no contest in court to felony charges of attempted murder and mayhem. He argued he was a “changed man” now, but admitted his involvement with white-supremacist groups.

The judge said that there was no doubt in his mind these acts were “hate crimes.”

District Attorney Joyce Dudley added, “A dangerous, violent man imbued with racist beliefs and ideologies has been removed from the streets for a very long time. (These) crimes affect not just victims and their loved ones, but our entire community.”