Says He Was Defending Girlfriend : Man Gets Jail in Cross-Burning Incident

A white Canyon Country man was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 30 days community service and 3 years probation Tuesday in the burning of a 6-foot wooden cross on the lawn of a black Saugus teen-ager’s house.

Kory William Lindner, 19, also was fined $112.50 in the Feb. 7 incident. He pleaded no contest to misdemeanor terrorism earlier this month in Municipal Court in Newhall.

Lindner was arrested in May with two juveniles for burning the cross at the home of Hugo and Jan Heerman, who are white. Their adopted son, Joe Green Heerman, 14, is black.

Judge’s Warning

Municipal Judge Adrian W. Adams warned Lindner not to do it again. “Needless to say, any kind of activity that is remotely similar, I’m just going to revoke probation and that will be the end of it,” the judge said.

Lindner said the attack was not racially motivated. He said his 13-year-old girlfriend was being verbally and physically harassed by Joe Heerman, and he wanted to teach Heerman a lesson.

“I just did it to protect my girlfriend,” Lindner said after sentencing.

Lindner said he told two friends about the alleged harassment and that they suggested burning the cross. Lindner said he waited in the car while the two juveniles set fire to the cross.

“I don’t know why I did it,” Lindner said. “It was just stupid.”

Jan Heerman, who attended the sentencing with her husband, said Lindner was jealous that his girlfriend had been talking to Joe at school. She said she heard Lindner call her son a “nigger” on the telephone the day of the cross-burning and threaten to beat him up if he didn’t stay away from the girl. Lindner denied speaking to Joe.

Jan Heerman said her son suffered nightmares because of the incident and the family went into therapy. “I think this is garbage. He got off really light. I don’t think he has any idea of the consequence of his crime. The psychological damage is incredible,” she said.

She maintained that the attack was racially motivated. “When you burn a cross on somebody’s lawn, that’s racial,” she said. “It’s a heinous crime. It’s an act of terrorism. We were really scared it was the Ku Klux Klan.”

Lindner’s attorney, Raymond Mapps, a Los Angeles County deputy public defender, said his client was motivated by revenge, not racial hatred.

“They didn’t pick him out and say, ‘There’s a black guy in the neighborhood,’ ” Mapps said, referring to Joe Heerman. “The incident was racially tainted but not racially motivated.”

Must Work for Caltrans

Lindner will ask the court’s permission to serve his jail time on weekends so he can continue to work during the day, Mapps said. The judge ordered him to serve his community service working on the freeways for Caltrans. “That is pretty tough community service,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Vito Costanzo.

Costanzo had asked Adams to sentence Lindner to six months in jail. Misdemeanor terrorism carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Lindner was arrested after a Saugus man told Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies that a juvenile was bragging about having been involved in a cross-burning, court records show. That juvenile told police about Lindner and the other youth involved, the records show.