Tuesday, September 10, 2019

11 Years for Cross-Burning

The Justice Department issued the following statement.

The Honorable Judge Keith Starrett, of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, sentenced defendant Louie Bernard Revette, 38, to serve 11 years on federal charges for his commission of a crossburning on Oct. 24, 2017, in Seminary, Mississippi. Revette previously pled guilty on April 12, to one count of interference with housing rights, a federal civil rights violation, and one count of using fire to commit a federal felony. Revette, along with a co-conspirator whom he recruited, built and burned a wooden cross near the home of a juvenile victim, M.H., who lived in a predominantly African-American residential area of Seminary. He burned the cross to threaten, frighten, and intimidate M.H. and other African-American residents because of their race and color, and because they lived in and occupied residences in that area of Seminary.

“The defendant terrorized members of a community simply because of their race and where they lived,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice will not tolerate these acts of hate, and we will continue to prosecute hate crimes like these to the fullest extent of the law.”

“Those who instill fear and terror into our neighbors and our fellow citizens because of the color of their skin will face the full weight and force of the law from the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” said U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst of the Southern District of Mississippi. “There is absolutely no place in our society or our country for this type of behavior, and we will do all that we can to prevent these racist acts and bring to justice those who are intent on committing these crimes.”

“All Mississippians have the right to feel safe in their communities, but crimes like these only tear open wounds that are still healing,” said Michelle A. Sutphin, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Mississippi. “The FBI and our partners will not tolerate crimes motivated by hate, and we will vigorously pursue those that commit them.”

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Jackson, Mississippi Field Office, including the FBI Safe Streets Task Force and the Jackson Public Corruption Task Force. Special Litigation Counsel Julia Gegenheimer of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Candace Mayberry of the Southern District of Mississippi prosecuted the case.

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good. We no longer live in the 50s and 60s and this mindset is dangerous.

Anonymous said...

If only the same justice had been served in the Jussie Smollett case. Unfortunately only whites get prosecuted for hate crimes.

Anonymous said...

Make sure to keep us posted on the black guy the set the black church on fire and spray painted "Trump" to terrify and also the capitol nooses that were placed to terrify as well please.

Stuff About ZeroBear PolyBear said...

He may be surprised to learn his crime will get him a full 11 years in prison. At the present time, there is no provision for parole at any time for those convicted for federal crimes.

Those choosing to commit federal crimes need to understand what their crimes will get them.

Anonymous said...

And the illegal Mexican fentanyl trafficker gets 6 years. Nice.

Anonymous said...

Yet we are 10 months and counting on having someone lay nooses as a false flag at the state capitol on election day. I'm sure the FBI is working overtime on that one.

Anonymous said...

I’m guessing cross burning does not get much admiration in the prison yard.
This guy is a terrorist and deserves to go away.

Anonymous said...

What damned nonsense. A momentary emotional reaction that had no dangerous intent and he gets more time than people who shoot others in Jackson, Mississippi. Nothing but a politically correct kneejerk decision by a liberal judge looking to make a personal statement.

Now, for the lib reaction by the regulars on here in 3...2...1.

Oh, wait...I almost forgot the crowd who will claim their children will move out of Mississippi as soon as they finish college, in 3...2...1.

Anonymous said...

In comparison to actual violent crimes this is too harsh a sentence. However it will send the right message that this will not be tolerated. You have been made an example of and will spend a long time in jail where half, or more, of the population will not be intimidated by this type of threat.

Anonymous said...

Not-so-good; commit an act of violence within a private domicile, such as armed home invasion, and receive much less than 11 years.

Anonymous said...


357 dead so far this year in Chicago

242 dead so far this year in Baltimore


Federal government: "Let's got to Mississippi and get in the papers"

Anonymous said...

What was the specific charge relative to the cross burning?

Anonymous said...

I know some of this guy's family vaguely. From what I understand he needs to be in a psychiatric facility more than a prison.

Anonymous said...

I understand why it's a crime. Was anyone injured? Did anyone lose property?
Seems like six months in jail would be fair.

Anonymous said...

This is a PC prosecution and sentence. 11 friggin' years? Seriously? And the feds rarely prosecute those prohibited purchasers who perjure themselves on firearms purchase applications?
follow
There act is disgusting, but methinks it is protected speech.

When are the antifa terrorists going to be prosecuted? Hillary? Mueller? IRS employees? Comey?

Yes, a politically convenient prosecution followed by a disproportiate sentence.

Cynical Sam said...

This is so wrong. You don't get 11-years for murder in Hinds County. So PC!

Anonymous said...

6:19- Not disagreeing with you but what exactly should the Federal Gov. do to stop this violence in Chicago and Baltimore. We know taking away guns isn't the answer. So what do they do?

Anonymous said...

And still no arrests for the Capitol noose hanging during the election?

Safe guess those nooses weren't hung by white supremacists.

Other wise it would've been an international incident.

Anonymous said...

I am heartened by the above comments. A crime? Sure. Prison? Okay. 11 years vs all the shit referenced by others here? F*ck you!! The pendulum swings hard.

Anonymous said...

So, burning wood is now a hate crime. So much for freedom of speech. Yet, crowds can gather and shout F TRUMP,(because it's such a loving thing to say) but burn wood and it's jail time.

Anonymous said...

If you’re going to deflect, at least draw the correct parallel.

i. e. hate crime v. hate crime

Anonymous said...

Anony 7:48PM…it appears 6:19 is pointing out the blatant double standard hypocrisy of “leftist failing to punish their constituents for crimes far worse.”

Re: your question of “what exactly should the Federal Gov. do to stop this violence in Chicago and Baltimore,” violent crime in these areas could be 99% eliminated in a matter of months if (hopefully not when) draconian measures were initiated.

As an example, say a special forces team spent a few months in Chicago figuring out who leaders of the violent gangs were and one morning we all woke to news that they had been assassinated overnight. Being a gang member would no longer be as cool as the Bill Maher’s and other Hollywood type’s and leftist’s have made being a gang member out to be; and gang related violent crime would drop by 99% the next day.

BUT, we smartly choose civil liberties (at least for now) so we accept a larger number of American deaths via murder by violent thugs in these leftist run cities over the same time period than American deaths in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars COMBINED.

So, it comes down to the lessor of bad choices: a) very high violent crime rates with civil liberties; or b) very low violent crime rates in a police state (since the poor and ignorant in these leftist run cities are too brainwashed to vote out the leaders that purposely keep them in poverty).

It’s the same with guns…so the next time you’re involved in a conversation about taking guns from law abiding citizens, remember, civil liberties must prevail.

Anonymous said...

Really good post at 7:40, even though it'll fall on deaf ears in The Fondren, north of Fortification and Belhaven areas.

A Concerned Mississippian said...

"As an example, say a special forces team spent a few months in Chicago figuring out who leaders of the violent gangs were and one morning we all woke to news that they had been assassinated overnight. Being a gang member would no longer be as cool as the Bill Maher’s and other Hollywood type’s and leftist’s have made being a gang member out to be; and gang related violent crime would drop by 99% the next day.

@ Kingfish - way-ment!? So we are just going to let people post comments like this and not hold them accountable or point how troubling this comment is!? As an administrator, you have a responsibility to keep things in check - especially when comments lean toward the irrational.

No, our military should not be used to assisnate "violent gang members" - we have a criminal justice system and it should be utilized by law enforcement! Not our damn military executing people on American soil without due process! Our criminal justice system is what separates us from any fascist, socialist, authoritarian, totalitarian, or communist governments across the globe!

Kingfish you should have been the one to address that.

Anonymous said...

11 years for cross burning and only 6 years for enough fentanyl to kill half a million people. I guess we just make up prison sentences as we go along. IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE.

Anonymous said...

I agree that in comparison and based solely upon what is posted in the OP, 11 years seems a overly-long sentence. I do not agree that any and all cross-burning is protected speech any more than shouting "fire" in a crowded theater is protected when there is not a fire.

Again, I haven't read any more from the sentencing court than what is here, but I'd suggest that it was the overt and threatening nature of his actions that got him the sentence, not the activity, in isolation, itself. In other words, he wasn't "protesting" about black people in general by burning a cross on his own (or permissively-used) property, he built and burned a cross in an impermissible location in an attempt to terrorize specific people because a) they were black and b) where they chose to (legally) live. As such, he is a terrorist, not a "protester."

Want a Trump-related example? OK: Trump says he supports lawful gun-ownership and carry by law-abiding citizens. In Mississippi, it would be legal to openly carry on a city street. Clearly, the Secret Service does not investigate, much less arrest, everyone who says derogatory things in lawful protest of Trump. But if Trump were in Mississippi for a rally and one tried to combine the two by running toward Trump with a lawfully-owned and lawfully-carried weapon while shouting derogatory things, that person would find themselves (at a minimum) on the ground in cuffs and under federal arrest.

Messick said...

Thanks, Eric Holder. Way to punch down.

Anonymous said...

Yet Kenneth Stokes and Reverend P.J. Williams get to spout their hate, but no one opens their mouth about that...

The standards between being white and committing a crime versus being black. I don't think any black has been prosecuted anywhere in the country for a hate crime.

Oh well, I still have my my "bump-stocks".

Anonymous said...

Yet Kenneth Stokes and Reverend P.J. Williams get to spout their hate, but no one opens their mouth about that...

Yeah, and conservatives in Mississippi have "Super Talk" to counter everything those two say.

Too much "whataboutism" in this state. If you are going to dish it, you better be able to take it.

Call us when Kenny or P.J. are burning a cross in Rankin or Madison County on a white person's lawn.

Anonymous said...

Serious question for the esteemed attorneys who read this blog - what's the difference between burning a cross and burning a flag? Why is one considered a hate crime, and the other free speech, and vice-versa?

Anonymous said...

The pro-cross-burning contingent is out strong today.

Anonymous said...

Just wait until the Supremes get ahold of this 'hate crime' law. There should be no damned sucha thing. The left got away with ratcheting up crimes based on a liberal interpretation of intent and twisting the free-speech amendment.

It's equally as nonsensical to say a man who rapes while hollering 'yee haw' is somehow guilty of a more heinous crime and deserves a double sentence.

Anonymous said...

An illegal sells fentanyl where only one gram will kill you.

6 years.

A racist burns a Christian Cross on the yardd of another to intimidate. If the cross had been burned on the racist own yard - protected by the 1st Amendment.

11 years.

See anything wrong here, Mikey?

Anonymous said...

Just a couple of observations...

1) If the fentanyl dealer had forced anyone to take the stuff, the sentence would have likely been much longer and if he had forced anyone to take it and/or it had killed anyone, the sentence would have been much, much longer. However, it is a fact that he intended to sell an illegal and extraordinarily dangerous product and that any claim that he could not reasonably know it was illegal and/or could not foresee that it would be used is absurd.

2) The cross-burner did not burn the cross on his property or on property on which he had permission to do so and he admitted his actions were done to scare, intimidate and terrorize specific people who lived near the site. In other words, he admits that he is a terrorist, not a "protester." There is no Constitutional question involved because nothing in the Constitution could be rationally argued to protect any alleged "right" to do what he did and there is plenty of well-settled precedent to put his actions well outside of protected conduct.

I would offer that the fentanyl dealer's sentence was much too light rather than a terrorist's sentence was much too harsh.

Anonymous said...

Radical whites burning a cross is hate speech, intended to intimidate black folk and will be prosecuted.

Radical blacks in camo at voting precincts holding rifles is hate speech, intended to intimidate white folk and will not be prosecuted.

Anonymous said...

@9/12 = 8:35AM

Where did such an instance happen in your second paragraph? Please provide a link.

Anonymous said...

2:58....call us when your beloved city of Jackson crawls out of the cesspool and actually is able to function on a village idiots level.

Those two losers don't have a clue on how to even get to Rankin county, much less have the balls to try it.

Just keep your murderous thugs in Jackson, you deserve it today. It's not a mass shooting, but the results are the same?

Anonymous said...

Ridiculously unfair.

Anonymous said...

1:26 - You asked for a link to support the FACT that 'radical blacks in camo holding rifles' actually occurred. Here are two links. If you need more, they're available.

In the first (well publicized) link, the so called new-black-panther-party members are obviously intimidating white voters by being dressed as they are and wielding clubs. In the second, similarly attired blacks (in support of a black female candidate) are holding rifles. Both (and other) instances were ignored by the Justice Department.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/11/05/was-2008-black-panther-incident-voter-intimidation.cnn

https://www.cbs46.com/news/members-of-new-black-panther-party-seen-holding-guns-stacey/article_26a9ee9a-e0e5-11e8-80f3-db8cefa9eefc.html



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