Boys, parents face lawsuit over 2004 cross burning attempt

Four teenage boys who attempted to burn a cross on a racially mixed family’s lawn two years ago are being sued, along with their parents, in U.S. District Court.

All four boys pleaded guilty in 2004 to malicious harassment in Spokane County Juvenile Court. Nathaniel E. Coston, Casey E. Stoner and Joshua W. Brink were 17 at the time; Brent W. Culp was 15.

The teenagers fashioned a 4-foot-tall cross and carried it about 1 1/2 miles to the Elk-area home of two black Riverside High School classmates, whose father is Native American. They soaked the cross with motor oil and attempted unsuccessfully to ignite it, according to sheriff’s reports.

The defendants claimed the crime was a prank, springing from boredom and lacking malicious intent, but victim Dave Anderson said in court that he and his adopted sons, 15-year-old twins Adam and Aaron Anderson, were “devastated.”

Culp, Brink, Stoner and Coston were 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.

Anderson and his sons seek unspecified damages and attorney fees in their federal lawsuit, which alleges violations of their federal and state rights to enjoy their property without intimidation. They also allege the boys failed to “act reasonably” while on the Andersons’ property.

The lawsuit, filed with assistance from the Center for Justice in Spokane, says state law allows parents to be held liable for up to $5,000 in damages caused by their children.

Parents named in the lawsuit are Gerald Coston, Chet and Christy Culp, Wade and Diane Brink, Chuck Stoner and Cass McGowen.

Chuck Stoner said he couldn’t comment on the lawsuit because he was unaware of it, and efforts to reach the other families for comment were unsuccessful.

Brink was the last of the defendants to accept a plea bargain that cut two-thirds off their potential sentences. Contending he might be denied federal financial aid for college, Brink held out for a deal that would spare him a felony record.

Brink filed an affidavit of prejudice against Juvenile Judge Ellen Kalama Clark when she refused to go along, but he had no better luck with Judge Neil Rielly.

Rielly agreed with Deputy Prosecutor Dan Catt, Juvenile Probation Officer Cathi Byus and the Rev. Jerry Jones, president of Spokane’s Interdenominational Ministers Fellowship Union: “This isn’t any kind of a prank at all.”