Benjamin Haskell was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison after pleading guilty last June to torching a nearly all black church after President Barack Obama won the election in 2008.

Haskell, along with two other co-conspirators Thomas A. Gleason, Jr., 22, and Michael F. Jacques, 25, were charged with conspiracy and damaging religious property because of race, color or ethnic characteristics.

The blaze destroyed the Macedonia Church of God in Christ in Springfield, Massachusetts in the wee hours of November 5. The 23-year-old and his cronies decided to burn down the nearly all-black, 300-member church as an angry retaliatory move after learning that the nation had elected a black president to lead the country.

According to court records, the loathsome three hurled hate-ridden, disparaging epithets on the night that they received news about the presidential win. The men plotted to get the wheels in motion for their foiled caper by dousing the building, which was under construction, with gasoline inside and out.

Gleason is still awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to the hate crime and Jacques' trial is pending.