FORMER ALABAMA KKK LEADER PLEADS GUILTY IN CROSS BURNING CASE

FROM:  JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Monday, February 3, 2014
Former Alabama KKK Leader Pleads Guilty to Cross Burning and Obstruction of Justice

Steven Joshua Dinkle, 28, former Exalted Cyclops of the Ozark, Ala., chapter of the International Keystone Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), pleaded guilty in federal court today to hate crime and obstruction of justice charges for his role in a 2009 cross burning, the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama announced.

According to documents filed with the court, Dinkle and one of his KKK recruits, Thomas Windell Smith, met at Dinkle’s home on May 8, 2009, and decided to burn a cross in a local African-American neighborhood.

Dinkle constructed a wooden cross about six feet tall, wrapped jeans and a towel around it to make it more flammable and loaded it into Smith’s truck.  Around 8:00 p.m., Dinkle and Smith drove to an African-American neighborhood in Ozark.  Dinkle unloaded the cross at the entrance to the community and dug a hole in the ground, then poured fuel on the cross, stood it up in the hole in view of several houses and set it on fire.  Dinkle and Smith then drove away.

When questioned by local investigators, Dinkle falsely denied his involvement in the incident and stated that he had resigned his office and withdrawn from the KKK months before the cross burning.  When approached by the FBI, Dinkle again lied and told a special agent that he had been at home with his girlfriend when the cross burning occurred.  He further claimed that he did not know one of his superiors in the KKK at the time of the cross burning.  During the plea hearing, Dinkle admitted that in burning the cross, he intended to scare and intimidate residents of the African-American community by threatening the use of force against them.  He further admitted that he burned the cross because of the victims’ race and color and because they were occupying homes in that area.

Dinkle pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate housing rights, one count of criminal interference with the right to fair housing and two counts of obstruction of justice.  

Dinkle faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 maximum fine on the conspiracy and criminal interference counts and a statutory maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a $500,000 maximum fine for obstructing justice by making false statements to both local investigators and federal agents.  Sentencing for Dinkle has not yet been scheduled.

Dinkle’s co-conspirator, Smith, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate housing rights in December 2013.  He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 11, 2014.

“By targeting the victims with a blazing cross in the night, one of the most threatening racial symbols in our nation’s history, the defendant attempted to terrorize a neighborhood because of the color of the residents’ skin,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division.  “Prosecuting these racially motivated crimes will continue to be a priority for the Department of Justice.”

“ As a society we hope to never see this type of hate,” said U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. for the Middle District of Alabama.  “We will continue to prosecute those that commit these horrible acts of hate to the fullest extent of the law.”

This case was 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 Civil Rights Division.

FEDERAL GRAND JURY INDICTS FORMER KKK LEADER IN CONNECTION TO CROSS BURNING IN ALABAMA

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Friday, November 29, 2013
Former KKK Leader Indicted for Cross Burning in Alabama; Second KKK Member Indicted for Perjury

Steven Joshua Dinkle, former Exalted Cyclops of a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in Ozark, Ala., was arrested on Wednesday, Nov. 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 Nov. 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 Nov. 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.