A Waldron man whose body is covered in white supremacist tattoos, and who backed out of his December trial on civil-rights charges after three black people were reinstated to the jury panel, was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison for firebombing the home of a interracial couple.
The sentence, including a requirement to pay $1,500 in restitution to the couple - a black man and a white woman - was part of an agreement that Gary Don “Bumper” Dodson, 33, of Waldron negotiated with prosecutors in pleading guilty to three charges on Dec. 7, 2011, just before opening statements were to begin in the federal trial in Little Rock.
During jury selection, Dodson’s attorney struck five black potential jurors from the final panel, but an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice challengedthe strikes and U.S. District Judge Bill Wilson added three of the five back in as potential jurors.
Dodson faced up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
The charges, stemming from his role in the late-night Jan. 14, 2011, firebombing of the couple’s mobile home outside Hardy, included conspiring to deprive someone of civil rights, aiding and abetting the intimidation of someone based on race, and aiding and abetting in the possession of a destructive device - a Molotov cocktail.
Dodson admitted driving three men - Jason Barnwell, 37, of Evening Shade and two younger skinhead recruits, Jake Murphy and Dustin Hammond - to the mobile home so the passengers couldlob flaming beer bottles, each stuffed with a gasoline-soaked rag, at the home. Dodson admitted he then acted as the getaway driver after one of the Molotov cocktails broke a window, awakening the couple and setting their living room curtains on fire.
The couple doused the flames and avoided injury.
Wilson’s acceptance of the 15-year agreement concluded a case in which all five people who were charged pleaded guilty.
Murphy, 19, of Waldron and Hammond, 20, of Evening Shade are each serving 54-month prison sentences for their guilty pleas to a civil-rights conspiracy charge. Wendy Treybig, who is now married to Barnwell, is serving 21 months for her guilty plea to an obstruction-of-justice charge.
Barnwell, who along with Dodson was considered the leader of the operation, was sentenced Jan. 27 to 20 years in prison on civil-rights and weapons charges.
Barnwell, who had once proudly called himself a “devout racist” and whose body is also covered head to toe with tattoos with white-supremacist themes, apologized at his sentencing hearing, saying he had come to realize theerror of his ways through a jail ministry program and that he would “take it back” if he could.
Dodson didn’t address the judge Friday, leaving that to his attorney, Steven Davis, who said Dodson was remorseful and acknowledged his role in a recent elaborate escape attempt from the Dallas County jail that left a guard injured.
“With today’s sentencing, we can finally close the book on this terrible incident of racial hatred,” said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil-rights division, in a statement issued later Friday.
Chris Thyer, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, added, “The very strength we have in our communities is a result of the diversity of its people. Those who perpetrate crimes against others solely because of racial differences will find, as these four defendants have, that there is a price to pay.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 04/07/2012