Guilty plea in cross-burning

A 17-year-old Elk-area boy pleaded guilty Friday to malicious harassment for burning a cross last April in front of the home of two black classmates and their Native American father.

The boy was the last of four to accept a plea bargain in which three counts of malicious harassment were consolidated into a single count that noted there were three victims. The deal cut the boys’ sentences to one-third of what they could have gotten.

The boy who pleaded Friday had held out for a deal that would have spared him a felony record, but Judge Neil Rielly denied that request last week in a Spokane County Juvenile Court hearing.

Like the other defendants, the one who pleaded guilty Friday was sentenced to 30 days of detention, 150 hours of community service and nine months of supervision. All the defendants also were ordered to write an essay on racial violence after performing 24 hours of research, all under the supervision of a juvenile probation officer.

The boy who was sentenced Friday was given credit for 57 days already served in detention, of which 27 days will be applied to his community service requirement.

The defendants – three 17-year-olds and a 15-year-old – claimed the crime was a prank lacking malicious intent, but Dave Anderson said he and his adopted sons, 15-year-old twins Adam and Aaron, were “devastated.”

Civil rights leaders also rejected the defendants’ argument that the cross-burning should be considered an act of boredom instead of an act of hate.

The defendants had studied the civil rights movement at Riverside High School and knew that a burning cross means, “Get out of town or we’ll kill you,” Anderson said at last week’s hearing.