2 NM men get prison for branding man with swastika
Jan 25, 2012, 11:43 PM
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – Two New Mexico men have been sentenced to prison for branding a swastika on the arm of a developmentally disabled Navajo man.
Federal prosecutors say 27-year-old Paul Beebe and 25-year-old Jesse Sanford, of Farmington, entered Alford pleas in July to federal hate crime charges. Under the plea, a defendant acknowledges there is enough evidence for a conviction but does not admit guilt.
Beebe was sentenced Wednesday to 8 1/2 years in prison followed by three years’ supervised release. Sanford was sentenced to five years in prison followed by three years’ supervised release.
A third defendant has yet to be sentenced after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit a federal hate crime.
The 22-year-old victim had a swastika branded on his arm with a metal coat hanger in April 2010.
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