Political stunt or hate crime? The accused claim that Colorado Springs Cross Burning was freedom of speech

DENVER | In the run -up to the mayoral elections in Colorado Springs in 2023, a racist slur of the shield of a black candidate and a cross that was set on fire in front of him.

It was a stunt to create sympathy and support for the black candidate Yemi Mobolade.

Mobolade, the city's first black mayor, is said to testify as a victim, according to the court documents.

But one of the accused claims that Mobolade himself was a participant in the plan to help him win. And the accused's lawyers say that their alleged actions are a political theater – freedom of speech, which was protected by constitutional law and was not intended to harm.

“This was a joke in every respect,” the accused Ashley Blackcloud told The Associated Press. She said that Mobolade knew how to burn the cross in advance, but she would not comment on and quoted a court decision that discusses the information collected in the case before the process. Blackcloud, who is native and black, said the stunt should not hurt anyone.

Mobolade has previously rejected any participation. A city spokesman Vanessa Zink said that the mayor did not want to make any additional comment.

The second defendant – the husband of Blackcloud, Derrick Bernard – serves a lifelong prison sentence after he was convicted last year if he ordered the murder of a rapper in Colorado Springs. The man who was charged with the implementation of the murder was recently acquitted, and Bernard puts on his conviction.

News for the lawyer of Blackcloud and Bernard's lawyer were not returned.

In applications to dismiss the case, however, they pointed out that the cross was set on fire in the middle of the night, which none other than the defendants apparently saw.

However, they are accused of having accused the media and others that contain the pictures of the scene.

They are commissioned to make a threat with a means of intergovernmental trade – the Internet and the E -Mail – and convey incorrect information about the attempt to intimidate Mobolade with a fire. They are both commissioned to be part of a conspiracy to do this. You have not guilty.

According to instructions from the jury in the case, the prosecutors must prove without doubt that Bernard and Blackcloud Mobolade fear that violence would lead to guilty.

At the beginning of this month, the US district judge Regina M. Rodriguez decided that the alleged actions are not those that are clearly protected by the first change, which would have rejected the case.

“It is up to the jury to determine whether the crossburn was a real threat or just a political speech,” she wrote.

A third person who was charged in the alleged program, Deanna West, is guilty of being part of a conspiracy in March in order to set the fire and then spread false information about it as part of a plea contract. According to this agreement, the lawyer and public prosecutor's office of West agreed that the goal of the conspiracy was to disturb Mobolades' campaign and to create the belief that mobolade was discouraged by running because of its breed.

West should also testify for the government.

According to the indictment, Bernard was communicated with Mobolade on April 23, 2023, and after Mobolade won the election on May 6, 2023.

About a week before the burning of the cross, Bernard told the candidate in a Facebook message that “he had mobilized my squadron in defense and for the last thrust. Black Ops Style Big Brother. The clan cannot let this city run again.”

They spoke on the phone for about five minutes after the incident.

In a video declaration that was published on social media in December, Mobolade said that he fully teamed up with the investigation and was truthfully with the law enforcement authorities.

“I worked completely and honestly during this study. I had no knowledge, warning or participation in this crime,” he said.

The US law firm for Colorado, who pursued the case, refused to comment on whether he had questioned or examined Mobolade whether he was involved in the cross -burning.

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