2 plead guilty in burning of cross

— Two men from the small Independence County town of Salado, southeast of Batesville, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Little Rock to a civil-rights violation stemming from a cross-burning in front of a black man’s apartment Aug. 28.

Cousins Tony Branscum, 25, and James Bradley Branscum, 23, entered guilty pleas in separate hearings to a charge of criminal interference with the right to fair housing. The charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

In return for their guilty pleas, prosecutors asked that two other charges against both of the men be dropped. The other charges were conspiring to interfere with the housing rights of another individual and using fire in the commission of a felony. Those charges subjected both men to a maximum potential sentence of 30 years in prison and a fine of upto $750,000.

U.S. District Judge Brian Miller, who accepted the guilty pleas, will set a sentencing date after U.S. probation officers complete a presentencing report for the court, which usually takes at least 45 days.

According to an indictment and a news release from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Branscum men and Curtis Coffee, 18, of Batesville, as well as a minor who wasn’t named, conspired to build a wooden cross and transport it to their target’s apartment building in Salado.

The indictment and news release said Tony Branscum made the cross in a workshop behind his house, with help from Coffee, who soaked some cloth in gasoline. Tony Branscum, Coffee and the other person identified only as “the juvenile co-conspirator” then affixed the cloth to the cross.

Brad Branscum, as the younger Branscum is known, drove the group and the cross to the victim’s home, prosecutors said. Then, according to the indictment, Coffee carried the cross into the yard and positioned it in front of the victim’s apartment, about 15 feet from the window. The men then propped it up on a satellite dish and ignited it.

Brad Branscum then drove the group away, the indictment says.

The indictment, which a federal grand jury handed up on Nov. 2, 2010, doesn’t identify the victim by name or age.

Coffee remains set for trial, but has a change-of-plea hearing scheduled for Monday before Miller.

At the time of the men’s indictments, then-U.S. Attorney Jane Duke said in a news release, “As a civilized society, we simply cannot tolerate such blatant acts of hatred and intimidation. Burning a cross in the yard of an African-American is one of the most offensive and threatening gestures imaginable. The history of violence associated with such an image loudly screams at the victim, without the offender having to say a word.”

The case was jointly investigated by the FBI and the Independence County sheriff’s office, and is being pursued by the local U.S. attorney’s office as well as the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.

“This joint investigation demonstrates how seriously all levels and branches of law enforcement consider these acts of prejudice, intolerance and intimidation,” Duke said in announcing the indictment.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 07/20/2011

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