Ever since Occupy protester Benjamin Gilmore was convicted of arson back in October, the question of sentencing has been on a lot of Fort Collins residents' minds.  This week, that sentence was handed down.

Benjamin Gilmore was sentenced Thursday to a total of eight years in prison for arson, for setting the Mason Street Flats fire in 2011.

Gilmore was an active, outspoken member of the Occupy Fort Collins movement that was part of nationwide protests against social and economic inequality that peaked near the time of the fire. The blaze a block away from the protest caused roughly $10 million in damage to the under-construction Mason Street Flats and the neighboring Penny Flats building, and prosecutors used Gilmore’s connection to the movement against him in trial.

The Coloradoan reports that the courtroom was standing-room-only at the sentencing hearing, and that Gilmore and many of his supporters wept as the sentence was handed down.

What do you think?  Does the punishment fit the crime?  So you think Gilmore might actually be innocent?  Let us know in the comments.

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