CNN
—
A Mississippi man has been sentenced to three 1/2 years in jail for burning a cross in his entrance yard to intimidate a Black household, in response to a information launch from the US Justice Division.
Axel Cox, 24, was sentenced to 42 months in connection to the cross burning, which occurred in December 2020 and violated the Honest Housing Act, the discharge stated, including Cox “admitted that he lit the cross on fireplace as a result of the victims have been Black and that he meant to scare them into transferring out of the neighborhood.”
Justice Division leaders condemned Cox’s actions, with Assistant Lawyer Basic Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division calling them “an abhorrent act that used a standard image of hatred and violence to stoke concern and drive a Black household out of their house.”
In line with the Justice Division, Cox “wedged two items of wooden collectively to kind a cross, positioned it in clear view of the victims’ residence,” following a dispute with the victims and “doused it in oil and set it alight. Throughout this incident, Cox yelled threats and racial slurs towards the occupants of the home.”
In September 2022, a federal grand jury indicted Cox for interfering with the victims’ housing rights and utilizing fireplace to commit a federal felony. An lawyer for Cox, who didn’t instantly response to a request for remark Sunday, filed a discover of intent to alter his plea in November 2022, and court docket paperwork point out Cox pleaded responsible to the primary depend.
Cox’s jail time period is about to be adopted by three years of supervised launch, per the Justice Division. He was additionally ordered to pay $7,810 in restitution.
“Whereas one would possibly assume cross-burnings and white supremacist threats and violence are issues of the previous, the unlucky actuality is that these incidents proceed in the present day,” Clarke stated.
“This sentence demonstrates the significance of holding individuals accountable for threatening the protection and safety of Black individuals of their houses due to the colour of their pores and skin or the place they’re from.”