New Jersey: Man in cross burning guilty of 2 intimidation counts
— Philadelphia Inquirer reports: “Terence Jones was driving his new BMW down a country road in Gloucester County three years ago when a pickup truck pulled up and the driver shouted a racial epithet.”
— “Jones, who is African American, took down the license-plate number and told police the man had also pointed a gun at him and his brother, Douglas, before speeding off”
— “Yesterday, Terence Jones said ‘justice was served’ after James J. Trexler, who is white, pleaded guilty to two counts of bias intimidation in state Superior Court in Woodbury”
— “Trexler, 24, formerly of Pittsgrove, Salem County, also faces an additional 18 months for violating the terms of his probation after his conviction in a cross burning. He had been sentenced to probation only 11 days before the April 29, 2006, incident with the Jones brothers.”
— “His lawyer, Leonard S. Baker, asked whether he had called them a slur and said they ‘shouldn’t be driving a BMW,’ and whether he was aware the statements would be intimidating. Trexler, dressed in a white, long-sleeved shirt with a tie and black pants, calmly answered, ‘Yes.'”