Man pleads guilty in Ohio cross-burning case
Mar 2, 2012, 11:51 AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – A man has pleaded guilty to a civil rights charge in the case of a wooden cross bearing a racial slur that was burned in the yard of a black Ohio family.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker says one of people’s most basic rights is to be safe in their homes and calls the case a tragedy for everyone.
The Columbus Dispatch reports (
http://bit.ly/xVaQbo) that 20-year-old Brandon Rhodes, who pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to threaten the rights of an individual, now faces 10 years in prison.
A federal complaint alleged Rhodes and a juvenile co-conspirator, who are white, also wrote “KKK will make you pay” on the cross burned in Morrow County last March.
The juvenile pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor counts of aggravated menacing.
___
Information from: The Columbus Dispatch,
http://www.dispatch.com
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
