'Rev. of white supremacy' pleads guilty to obstructing Tree of Life trial

45-year-old Hardy Carroll Lloyd from West Virginia pled guilty earlier this week to the “obstruction of the due administration of justice” during the trial against Robert Bowers; the shooter who caused a mass casualty event at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

The US Justice Department described Lloyd as a “self-proclaimed 'reverend' of a white supremacy movement.”

Lloyd admitted to soliciting threats to online jurors and witnesses involved in the Bowers trial. He admitted to submitting threatening social media posts and making threats in website comments and in emails during the trial.

Lloyd acknowledged he intentionally targeted the jury and government witnesses based on their perceived relation to the Jewish religion.

“Hardy Lloyd attempted to obstruct the federal hate crimes trial of the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “His guilty plea underscores that anyone who attempts to obstruct a federal trial by threatening or intimidating jurors or witnesses will be met with the full force of the Justice Department.”

“It is absolutely reprehensible that the defendant threatened witnesses and jurors in the Tree of Life case, a tragedy that claimed innocent lives and emotionally scarred many in the Jewish community,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.

“The FBI will not tolerate the intimidation of citizens participating in our criminal justice system, and we will work with our partners to hold legally accountable anyone who threatens or carries out acts of violence against them.”

If the court accepts Lloyd’s agreement, he will be sentenced to 78 months in prison.

The Tree of Life shooting

The Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh was targeted in an antisemitic attack in 2018, in which 11 people were murdered. 

Bowers was sentenced to death in August 2023 for carrying out the attack, the Jerusalem Post reported. 

Bowers’ defense had originally argued that he had not targeted the victims because they were Jewish, but because they were facilitating an immigration invasion to replace white people; an antisemitic theory held by white supremacists known as “the great replacement.”