Church Burning in 2000 wow hate crimes
Staff Writer
2010-05-24
.bugnews.bloggieblog.com .
A federal grand jury in the District of Massachusetts has charged Michael Jacques and Thomas Gleason of Springfield, Mass., in a three-count superseding indictment in relation to the arson of a church, the Justice Department announced.
The superseding indictment alleges that in the early morning of Nov. 5, 2008, within hours of Barack Obama being elected President of the United States, Jacques, 25, and Gleason, 22, agreed to burn and succeeded in burning the Macedonia Church of God in Christ, a predominantly African-American church in Springfield.
Jacques and Gleason were originally charged on Jan. 27, 2009, with conspiring to interfere with the civil rights of the parishioners of the church. The superceding indictment's two additional counts allege Jacques and Gleason damaged religious property because of the race, color or ethnic characteristics of individuals associated with that religious property, and used fire to commit a felony.
"The freedom to practice the religion that we choose in a safe environment without being subjected to discrimination or hateful acts is among our nation's most cherished rights," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "Anyone who violates that right will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
"This senseless church burning victimized and traumatized a congregation and the larger Springfield community," said U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz. "Any desecration of a place of worship is a despicable crime, reaching to a deeply felt American tenet, freedom of religion. Incidents of this type illustrate the challenges we still face to protect our civil rights."