Two admit guilt in cross burning

Seann Robinson forgave the men who burned a cross outside his Spirit Lake apartment July 15 as they pleaded guilty Friday to reduced charges.

Kootenai County Deputy Prosecutor Reese Sterett said it was Robinson who urged the prosecutor’s office to reach a plea deal with the men, originally charged with a felony hate crime.

“Apology accepted,” Robinson, who is black, told 18-year-old Nicholas J. Schmitt and 21-year-old Michael R. Simmons after each apologized in court. “After today, this is in the past.”

Through the plea deal, Schmitt and Simmons pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of malicious injury to property for “burning the grass” in front of the apartment and to a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace.

“That was what Mr. Robinson thought was appropriate,” Sterett said. “I’m kind of in awe of the position he took.”

Sterett also consulted Tony Stewart, secretary of the board of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. Stewart told him that this case could be an opportunity to turn the men “into proponents for human rights.”

Stewart talked with Robinson and has offered to help the defendants with their court-ordered “sensitivity training,” Stewart said Friday.

First District Magistrate Benjamin Simpson sentenced both men to 60 days in jail, with credit for the time they’ve already spent behind bars. Both were ordered to complete diversity training.

Simpson tacked on 30 days of community service to each man’s sentence to “send a message to the community that these types of acts won’t be tolerated.”

“This brings back some really ugly periods of times in our history,” Simpson said. “It brings back some ugly times in our community, our area.”

Attorneys for both men asked Simpson to grant withheld judgments, meaning if they didn’t violate terms of their probation, the convictions wouldn’t show on their record. The judge denied the requests.

Chief Deputy Public Defender Lynn Nelson, representing Simmons, said the first thing Simmons told him when they met at the jail was, “I did something incredibly stupid.”

“I think this has been a real education to him,” Nelson said. “He feels incredibly lucky. If it weren’t for Mr. Robinson and his recommendations, he would have a felony on his record.”

Simmons said the incident was “a lack of judgment.”

“I’m truly sorry for the pain I caused you,” he told Robinson, who was seated in court. “I embarrassed myself, I embarrassed my family and I embarrassed a lot of friends when I did that.”

Schmitt apologized to the community, the court and Robinson.

His attorney, Doug Phelps, said the crime was an isolated incident – a poor decision made after a night of drinking.

Phelps said the incident forced Schmitt to do a lot of soul searching.

“He had these concerns – ‘Am I a racist in some fashion that I allowed this to happen?’ ” Phelps said. “He had to look within himself to determine if he might be a racist.”