ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — A local man will now spend 10 years in prison after yelling antisemitic slurs and threatening a man with a gun during a Jewish celebration in 2022.
Noah Amato, now 19, learned his fate after a sentencing hearing Friday afternoon. The defense argued that Amato’s mental health should be a mitigating factor.
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The victim, Zalman Barrocas, addressed the St. Johns County court, dismissing that argument and claiming it was an unprovoked attack.
Amato pleaded no contest to aggravated battery and carrying a concealed weapon.
While in Ponte Vedra in 2022, Amato, then 17, yelled antisemitic slurs at Barrocas before threatening him with and firing a gun, as Barrocas was dressed in traditional Jewish attire the day before a religious holiday.
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“I responded and said ‘are you gonna shoot me?’ I couldn’t believe it, because I’d seen it in movies, I’d seen it in TV, but I never thought I’d experience it just for being a jew,” Barrocas recounted emotionally in court Friday.
Dr. Jill Nicolino testified she diagnosed Amato with ADHD, borderline personality disorder, major depressive disorder, and PTSD from a stressful home life, all of which would affect his impulse control and ability to control his reaction to stressful situations like a fight or disagreement.
However, the state then called Barrocas to the stand, who said he has ADHD and has had home problems, yet would never react the way Amato did – pulling a gun in an altercation that started with Amato’s antisemitic comments.
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“We never provoked him, it wasn’t like he reacted to that,” Barrocas said. “It was not because all of this trauma he had that he’s more reactive. That’s not the case at all. He provoked us.”
While the defense also pointed to the fact that Barrocas was the first to start the physical altercation by pushing Amato after his antisemitic comments, the prosecution asserted Amato was the one who provoked the argument first and deserved the maximum possible sentence.
Amato apologized for the pain he caused the family, saying on the witness stand, “I take 100% responsibility for the heinous crime I committed. I was highly intoxicated on an entire bottle of liquor and some Percocets.”
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