Cross Burning Civil Rights Conviction Announced

United States Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers announced in a January 22, 2010 Press Release at http://www.justice.gov that a Louisiana man was convicted by a Shreveport, Louisiana jury in connection with a civil rights conspiracy, use of fire in commission of a federal felony, and obstruction of justice related to a cross burning near the home of an interracial couple in Athens, Louisiana.  According to the DOJ Press Release, trial evidence revealed that the man agreed with two cousins to build, erect, and burn a cross near the homes of a cousin and her African American boyfriend (now husband) and other relatives who approved of their interracial relationship.  As further stated in the Press Release, the cross was set on fire to intimidate the victims.  An Assistant Attorney General with the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division was quoted as saying: “The defendant and co-conspirators, driven by hatred, threatened a family with violence simply because they associated with persons of another race,” adding that “Incidents of this kind have no place in this country, but they are regrettably all too common.”