Mississippi man gets 42 months in prison for cross burning

A Mississippi man who burned a cross in his front yard to intimidate his Black neighbors has been sentenced to 42 months in prison

ByMICHAEL GOLDBERG Associated Press/Report for America
March 9, 2023, 5:59 PM

JACKSON, Miss. -- A Mississippi man who burned a cross in his front yard to intimidate his Black neighbors was sentenced Thursday to 42 months in prison.

U.S. Southern District of Mississippi Judge Sul Ozerden handed down the sentence after Axel Cox, 24, pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime in December.

Cox, of Gulfport, was charged with violating the Fair Housing Act over a December 2020 incident in which he put together a wooden cross in his front yard and propped it up so his Black neighbors could see it. He then doused it with motor oil and lit it on fire. He also addressed the family with racially derogatory language, records say.

“This cross burning was an abhorrent act that used a traditional symbol of hatred and violence to stoke fear and drive a Black family out of their home,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

More:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/mississippi-man-gets-42-years-prison-cross-burning-97755520



He looks equally stupid with longer and shorter hair

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Gulfport man sentenced 42 months for burning cross to intimidate Black family



By WLOX Staff
Published: Mar. 9, 2023 at 5:17 PM CST

. . .

After a dispute with the family, Cox wedged two pieces of wood together to form a cross, placed it in clear view of the family’s residence, doused it in oil and set flames to it, all while yelling threats and racial slurs towards the victims’ house.

Cox admitted that he lit the cross on fire because the victims were Black and that he intended to scare them into moving out of the neighborhood.

. . .

https://www.wlox.com/2023/03/09/gulfport-man-sentenced-42-years-burning-cross-intimidate-black-family/