Light Sentence in Hate Crime Angers Victims

To the outrage of the interracial family they victimized, three men received a reduced sentence Tuesday in exchange for no contest pleas to the hate crime charge of throwing a burning cross with the intent to terrorize.

Daniel Claxton, 21, Justin Berkowitz, 19, and Christopher Fraley, 19, were sentenced to 60 days in jail and three years’ probation for the Nov. 18 crime, during which they put a 6-foot wooden cross in the Shadow Hills family’s driveway and set it on fire, shouting a racial epithet.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen also ordered each defendant to complete a six-week tolerance education program and pay $200 restitution.

Had the men been found guilty by a jury, they would each have faced a maximum seven years in state prison.

“We’re really upset with the way things turned out. We don’t think the courts or the district attorney’s office took this seriously,” said Steven Russell, whose Shadow Hills house was the scene of the crime.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jacquelyn Lacey said she believed the sentence “is really appropriate for this kind of case,” adding that the defendants seemed remorseful and had no prior criminal records.

“They are young and they did a stupid, cruel thing,” Lacey said. “There is hope that they’ll learn from this incident and never have contact with the criminal justice system again.”

Though the defendants pleaded guilty to a felony, after their probationary period they may apply to have their convictions reduced to misdemeanors.

In an interview on the porch of his family’s ranch-style house, Russell shook his head and called the sentence a “slap on the hand.”

Russell, 51, is Cuban African American, and his wife, Tracey, 41, is Italian American. They’ve lived in Shadow Hills 15 years and never encountered any racial intolerance before. But now, they’re thinking about moving.

“My wife doesn’t feel comfortable or safe here. We have a 10-year-old [son],” said Russell, a supervisor for a company that stages trade shows. His job requires travel around the country, he said, and he now feels nervous about leaving his wife and younger son home alone.

In court Tuesday, defense attorneys asked that the three men receive credit for time served for the days when they performed community service, were electronically monitored or under house arrest. But Coen refused.

After the hearing, Claxton, of Glendale, and Berkowitz, of Arleta, took off their jackets and ties and surrendered to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies to begin serving their jail sentences.

“The boys are really sorry for what they did,” said Berkowitz’s father, Edward, after the sentencing. “It wasn’t an intentional type of crime.”

Fraley, of Encino, walked out of court with his lawyer because he is contesting the judge’s refusal to give him more credit. Still, he said he deeply regrets what happened.

“I wish I was never part of this,” Fraley said.

In letters of apology to the court and the Russell family, both Fraley and Berkowitz wrote that they felt bad about what they did.

“It was a very stupid and immature thing to do. We were not thinking at the time of anyone’s feelings,” Berkowitz wrote.

But Russell dismissed those apologies as insincere.

“Anyone’s going to be sorry after they’re caught,” Russell said.

The men were caught after a $21,000 reward was offered. Police received a tip, which led to an eyewitness, prosecutor Lacey said. The witness testified at a preliminary hearing that she had seen the men with the wood they used to make the cross, just before the incident. She testified that later she heard them brag about what they had done.

“We solved it off the tip,” said Det. Frank Bishop of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Division. Local officials on Tuesday approved payment of the reward to the tipster, he said.

According to court documents, police believe the incident might have been sparked by a dispute over a bicycle that one of the defendants had with the Russell’s older son, Derick, now 19.

The three men drove to the Russells’ house and Claxton and Fraley put the cross in the driveway. Fraley lit the cross, and Claxton shouted a racial slur, according to court documents.

A fourth person was suspected of involvement but police did not have enough evidence to charge him, Lacey said.

During preliminary hearings, defense attorneys argued that the incident was only a “stupid prank” or a “sick joke.”

The Russells “are grateful to the community for their help and support,” said their attorney, Leslie R. Smith. But “they don’t believe justice has been served in the case. They’ve been through extraordinary distress as a result of the criminal conduct,” she added.

In a phone interview, Tracey Russell, a manufacturing company materials manager, said the sentence “sends a message that these crimes of racism aren’t taken seriously.

“When they lynch ‘em, that’s when we’ll take them seriously,” she said. “Our judicial system failed the victims once again.”