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Convicted cross-burner says he, Pickering are victims of politics
http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0301/14/m01.html
Sandy Hook man expresses regret, says business lost
By Ana Radelat
Clarion-Ledger Washington Bureau
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WASHINGTON ? Daniel Swan, the Mississippi cross-burner whose potential prison sentence was reduced by embattled Judge Charles Pickering, says both he and the judge are victims of political intrigue.
"Politics are hurting a good man like Pickering and have put me in a real bind," he said.
Swan, 29, of tiny Sandy Hook in south Mississippi, said his life went into free fall soon after President Bush nominated Pickering, a federal district judge in Hattiesburg, for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Civil rights organizations, women's groups and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee vigorously fought the ap-pointment, arguing that Pickering was unfit. To make their case, they publicized Pickering's intercession in the Swan case.
Prosecutors had planned to ask that Swan receive a seven-year prison sentence. Under pressure from Pickering, they agreed to ask for 27 months, which Swan served.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, controlled by Democrats last year, killed Pickering's nomination on a party-line vote. Last week, Bush outraged Pickering's critics by renominating the judge.
Swan said the controversy has "run (Pickering's) name into the ground."
Publicity about the cross-burning case, which had drawn little attention ? even in Mississippi ? before Pickering's nomination, has put Swan's small trucking company out of business, he said.
"All of the sudden, all of my customers dried up," he said.
Swan said he and a group of other young, white men were drinking in the parking lot of the Improve Grocery, whiling away the hours on the night of Jan. 8, 1994, when a car filled with black men drove by.
"There was a lot of hooting and hollering," Swan said. Then one of his companions, a 17-year-old identified in court papers as "J.B.," came up with the idea of burning a cross on the Polkeys' lawn, Swan said.
The men already had hoisted a dead skunk on a pole in front of the Improve Grocery and performed other pranks that night. To Swan, the cross-burning was just another game.
Swan said he, J.B. and a third man, named Mickey Thomas, went to Swan's home, gathered some boards from an old hog pen and hammered a cross together. Swan said he drove the cross and the men in his pickup to the Polkey home, where they propped the gasoline-doused cross on a cedar tree and struck a match.
"The cross made a big old light and then the gasoline burned off," Swan said.
"There wasn't even any damage to the cedar tree."
The men drove off that night but were arrested later in a federal investigation of the incident.
J.B., who Swan says was the ringleader of the group, reached a deal with prosecutors that placed him on home detention for six months and one year of probation. Thomas was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial. He received the same deal as J.B.
Swan was the only one of the three defendants who had faced the possibility of serious prison time. Prosecuted under a federal statute that covers the use of fire in the commission of a felony, he could have received a minimum of seven years in prison......
http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0301/14/m01.html
Sandy Hook man expresses regret, says business lost
By Ana Radelat
Clarion-Ledger Washington Bureau
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WASHINGTON ? Daniel Swan, the Mississippi cross-burner whose potential prison sentence was reduced by embattled Judge Charles Pickering, says both he and the judge are victims of political intrigue.
"Politics are hurting a good man like Pickering and have put me in a real bind," he said.
Swan, 29, of tiny Sandy Hook in south Mississippi, said his life went into free fall soon after President Bush nominated Pickering, a federal district judge in Hattiesburg, for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Civil rights organizations, women's groups and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee vigorously fought the ap-pointment, arguing that Pickering was unfit. To make their case, they publicized Pickering's intercession in the Swan case.
Prosecutors had planned to ask that Swan receive a seven-year prison sentence. Under pressure from Pickering, they agreed to ask for 27 months, which Swan served.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, controlled by Democrats last year, killed Pickering's nomination on a party-line vote. Last week, Bush outraged Pickering's critics by renominating the judge.
Swan said the controversy has "run (Pickering's) name into the ground."
Publicity about the cross-burning case, which had drawn little attention ? even in Mississippi ? before Pickering's nomination, has put Swan's small trucking company out of business, he said.
"All of the sudden, all of my customers dried up," he said.
Swan said he and a group of other young, white men were drinking in the parking lot of the Improve Grocery, whiling away the hours on the night of Jan. 8, 1994, when a car filled with black men drove by.
"There was a lot of hooting and hollering," Swan said. Then one of his companions, a 17-year-old identified in court papers as "J.B.," came up with the idea of burning a cross on the Polkeys' lawn, Swan said.
The men already had hoisted a dead skunk on a pole in front of the Improve Grocery and performed other pranks that night. To Swan, the cross-burning was just another game.
Swan said he, J.B. and a third man, named Mickey Thomas, went to Swan's home, gathered some boards from an old hog pen and hammered a cross together. Swan said he drove the cross and the men in his pickup to the Polkey home, where they propped the gasoline-doused cross on a cedar tree and struck a match.
"The cross made a big old light and then the gasoline burned off," Swan said.
"There wasn't even any damage to the cedar tree."
The men drove off that night but were arrested later in a federal investigation of the incident.
J.B., who Swan says was the ringleader of the group, reached a deal with prosecutors that placed him on home detention for six months and one year of probation. Thomas was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial. He received the same deal as J.B.
Swan was the only one of the three defendants who had faced the possibility of serious prison time. Prosecuted under a federal statute that covers the use of fire in the commission of a felony, he could have received a minimum of seven years in prison......