3 white men have been in jail for a long time for just burning a cross in their own yard.

Jury selection begins in cross-burning case: Testimony expected to start today, 3 Fouke men claim innocence of a federal hate crime
Monday, September 25, 2006 9:29 AM CDT




By LISA BOSE McDERMOTT
Texarkana Gazette



Three men accused in a Fouke cross-burning incident are expected to face a federal jury in Texarkana, Ark. today.


Christopher Mitchell, James Bradley Weems and Clint Wurtele, all of Fouke, say they are innocent of the federal hate crime.



Jury selection begins this morning under the direction of U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes. Testimony should begin today in the first known cross-burning prosecution case in the region.



The three men allegedly helped Christopher Baird, 33, erect and burn a cross on Baird’s side of a property line in full view of Baird’s black neighbor. Federal prosecutors say the cross was burned to intimidate Anthony Briggins, a black man who shared a home there with his white girlfriend.


In prior statements to the Gazette, lawyers for the accused men say the cross burning was not racially motivated.



But Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Dunn, of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, argues it is. She makes her case with a two-count indictment handed down by a federal grand jury in Fort Smith earlier this month.



The men are specifically charged with conspiracy with the right to occupy a dwelling free from intimidation and interference based on race and color as well as intimidation of civil rights/aiding and abetting. The three men are released on standard unsecured $20,000 bail bonds to await trial in Texarkana.