Mississippi man gets 42 months in prison for cross burning
By MICHAEL GOLDBERG
Associated Press/Report for America
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man who burned a cross in his front yard to intimidate his Black neighbors has been sentenced to 42 months in prison. U.S. Southern District of Mississippi Judge Sul Ozerden handed down the sentence Thursday after 24-year-old Axel Cox pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime in December. Cox was charged with violating the Fair Housing Act over a December 2020 incident in which he put together a wooden cross in his front yard and propped it up so his Black neighbors could see it. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke called it an “abhorrent act” intended to inspire fear and drive a Black family from their home.
