White Supremacist’s Trial Will Begin Next Week
The cross-burning trial of white supremacist Tom Metzger and three other men will begin next Monday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge J.D. Smith determined Monday.
Metzger and his co-defendants are accused of felony conspiracy to violate the municipal fire code stemming from a 1983 ceremony in which three 18-foot wooden crosses were set afire in the foothills above the San Fernando Valley. Participating were members of the California Ku Klux Klan, the Idaho-based Aryan Nations Organization and the neo-Nazi National Socialist American Workers Party. Charges have been dropped against four other men involved because they are serving long sentences for murder or other serious crimes.
Defense attorneys claim the cross-burning was an expression of free speech. The prosecution says it was meant to intimidate the racially mixed Lake View Terrace neighborhood.
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