Alabama Man Pleads Guilty to His Role in Racially Motivated Cross Burning

WASHINGTON—Thomas Windell Smith, 24, of Dothan, Alabama, turned himself in and pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday, December 6, 2013, to one count of conspiring to violate housing rights, the Justice Department announced today. The information charging Smith was unsealed today. The charge relates to his participation in a cross burning at the entrance to an African-American community in Ozark, Alabama, on May 8, 2009, with a former KKK leader who was arrested and charged with a five-count indictment on Wednesday, November 27, 2013.
During his plea, Smith admitted that he and a co-conspirator agreed to burn a cross together in order to intimidate the neighborhood’s African-American residents. Using materials from around his home, the co-conspirator constructed a wooden cross about six feet tall and wrapped cloth around the cross. The co-conspirator loaded the cross into Smith’s truck, and, with Smith driving while the co-conspirator provided directions, the two men transported the cross to a predominantly African-American residential neighborhood. They unloaded the cross at the entrance to the community, where the co-conspirator poured fuel on the cross, stood it up in view of several houses, and set it on fire.
“The defendant’s crime illustrates the damage hate crimes can do to entire communities, making people feel unsafe in their own homes,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division. “We’d like to think these offenses are a thing of the past, but the reality is that they happen here in the 21st century. The Justice Department is committed to stamping them out.”
“This defendant not only committed a federal crime but committed a contemptible action of hate,” said U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. “Citizens in the Middle District of Alabama should not and will not tolerate such actions. I hope this prosecution sends a clear message that these hateful demonstrations will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Smith faces a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the Dale County Sheriff’s Office and the Ozark Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerusha T. Adams of the Middle District of Alabama and Trial Attorney Chiraag Bains of the department’s Civil Rights Division.

Former KKK Leader Indicted for Cross Burning in Alabama; Second KKK Member Indicted for Perjury

WASHINGTON—Steven Joshua Dinkle, former Exalted Cyclops of a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in Ozark, Alabama, was arrested on Wednesday, November 27 in Mississippi for burning a cross at the entrance to a predominantly African-American neighborhood and for obstructing the investigation into the offense. Pamela Morris, Dinkle’s mother and the former secretary of the KKK chapter, was arrested on November 21, 2013, for committing perjury before the grand jury investigating the cross burning.
Dinkle, 28, was charged in a five-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama that was unsealed on November 27. The indictment charges him with one count of conspiracy to violate housing rights, one count of criminal interference with the right to fair housing, one count of using fire to commit a federal felony, and two counts of obstruction of justice.
The indictment alleges that on May 8, 2009, Dinkle conspired with another person to burn a cross in an African-American neighborhood to threaten and intimidate residents of that neighborhood and thereby interfere with their federally protected housing rights. Dinkle allegedly constructed a six-foot cross, wrapping jeans and a towel around it. He and his co-conspirator drove the cross to an African-American community near Johntown Road in Ozark, where Dinkle poured fuel on the cross, erected it in the ground and set it on fire. The indictment further contends that Dinkle obstructed justice by lying to local investigators in 2009 and federal investigators in 2012. Dinkle claimed he had withdrawn from the KKK months before the cross burning, provided a false alibi, and denied knowing a person who was, in fact, his superior in the KKK.
The grand jury returned a separate indictment against Morris, 45, charging her with two counts of perjury. The indictment alleges that Morris made multiple false statements to the grand jury investigating the cross burning when she denied her own involvement in the KKK and knowing that Dinkle was also involved.
If convicted, Dinkle could face a maximum statutory sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy and criminal interference counts; sentence maximum of 10 years in prison for the use of fire; a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for obstructing justice by making false statements to local investigators; and a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for making false statements to the FBI.
If convicted, Morris could face a maximum statutory sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count of perjury.
This case is being investigated by the FBI, with the assistance of the Dale County Sheriff’s Office and the Ozark Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerusha T. Adams of the Middle District of Alabama and Trial Attorney Chiraag Bains of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.