MACOMB, ILLINOIS MAN SENTENCED FOR CROSS BURNING
TARGETING INTERRACIAL COUPLE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights R. Alexander Acosta and U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois Jan Paul Miller today announced the sentencing of a Macomb, Illinois man for his role in a July 2001 cross burning targeting an interracial couple.

Chief Judge Joe Billy McDade of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois sentenced Charles Lambert to thirty-seven months in prison. Forest Hatley, a co-defendant in this case, was previously sentenced to forty-one months imprisonment and three years of supervised release.

“Historically, cross burning has been a tool for the intimidation and harassment of racial and religious minorities,” said Assistant Attorney General Acosta. “It is unconscionable, and the Justice Department is committed to vigorously prosecuting such conduct.”

Lambert and Hatley pled guilty in April 2003 to charges of conspiring to violate civil rights. Each admitted that in July 2001, they agreed to burn a cross at a home in Macomb, Illinois where an interracial couple lived. The defendants constructed a cross and doused it with gasoline. The two men then transported the cross to the victims’ yard, planted it in front of the home and ignited it. Lambert and Hatley also admitted this action was taken to intimidate the couple because of the male’s race and because he was living with a person of another race.

“Cross burning and other bias crimes have no place in our society,” said U.S. Attorney Miller. “No one should be subjected to this type of vile conduct. The perpetrators of such crimes will be aggressively prosecuted and brought to justice.”

The Civil Rights Division has been actively prosecuting such bias-induced crimes. Since 2001, the Division has prosecuted 35 cases, charging 50 defendants involved in cross burnings. Last month, Assistant Attorney General Acosta personally argued an appeal in a cross burning case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Macomb Police Department conducted the investigation into this matter. Trial Attorney Jacque Spratt from the Criminal Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tate Chambers jointly prosecuted this case.

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