Minneapolis - Two men who vandalized a Hindu temple got a break when the leader of the temple helped persuade a judge to give them lighter sentences.

"In this day and age of 'Eye for an Eye,'" Dr. Shashikant Sane told Hennepin County District Judge Kevin Burke, the two men deserved a chance to become "productive citizens," not "hardened criminals."

Burke said Thrusday he had been inclined to give 60-day jail sentences to both Tyler Tuomie, 19, and Paul Spakousky, 20. But instead he sentenced them to serve 30 days, the Star Tribune newspaper reported. They also must pay restitution of $96,454, he ordered.

And they must return to court April 6, the one-year anniversary of the vandalism. If they haven't stayed out of trouble, Burke said, they'll get another 30 days in jail.

Both men pleaded guilty earlier to smashing statues of deities at the ornate Hindu Manir Temple, causing about $200,000 in damage a few months before the temple was to open.

The vandalism was a shock to the growing Minneapolis-area Hindu community.

"When we saw the decapitated and dismembered sculptures ... our feelings were akin to seeing the shattered bodies of brutally murdered family members," said Sane, chairman of the temple's board of trustees.

Three weeks ago, Spakousky and Tuomie stood before about 50 temple members asking their forgiveness, and they were remorseful again Thursday.

The crime was "a dumb act ... a random act of stupidity," Spakousky said.