3 Whites Convicted of Burning Church
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Three young whites were convicted of torching a rural black church two days after a Ku Klux Klan rally, but the Mobile, Ala., jury acquitted them of a racial hatred charge involving places of worship. The case marked the first time a jury had considered the new federal charge, which imposes harsher penalties for arson in a religious structure when race is the motive. Alan Odom, Brandy Boone and John Kenneth Cumbie were convicted of conspiracy in the June 30 arson fire that destroyed St. Joe Baptist Church.
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