Download: RSS | Email Alerts | Text Alerts | Mobile

FOX16 - Little Rock, Arkansas News and Weather

Tornado Watch expires at 6:00 AM on 5/20, issued at 10:44 PM Alma, AR | Avoca, AR | Bella Vista, AR | Bentonville, AR

3 men sentenced in racial crimes

Story Comments

Print Story

Images

(File)

Related Links

Tags:

hate crime

Updated: 1/27/2012 3:42 pm

Published: 1/27/2012 2:36 pm

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A judge has sentenced a man to 20 years in prison for firebombing an interracial couple's home.

Before sentencing Friday in Little Rock, Jason Barnwell said he regretted his actions and that he understands the need for punishment.

Prosecutors say Barnwell and other men made Molotov cocktails and threw them at a couple's mobile home in Hardy last year. The black man and white woman whose home was attacked were not injured but their home caught fire.

Barnwell said he was drunk when he committed the crime but that that was no excuse.

Two other men pleaded guilty Friday in a separate cross-burning incident.

James Branscum and Curtis Coffee pleaded guilty last year after federal prosecutors said the pair burned a cross at a black man's home near Batesville.

Associated Press

Story Comments

Print Story

4 Comment(s)

Comments: Show | Hide

Here are the most recent story comments.View All

The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of FOX16 - Breaking News and Weather to Plan Your Day for Little Rock and Central Arkansas

dilligaf - 1/30/2012 1:56 PM

0 Votes

Report User

Things you'll never see as news headlines: Woman accused of raping man. Black person arrested for hate crime against a white person. White person wins racial discrimination lawsuit.

sparrowhawk60 - 1/29/2012 11:29 AM

0 Votes

Report User

They'll be right at home in prison. Prison's are divided off by racism.

Butch54 - 1/27/2012 5:02 PM

1 Vote

Report User

I care that's who. I'm not putting up with any racism in my life at all. Although people have the right to go where they please. They also have the responsibility to act in a way that is correct and within the law. Keep the bs to yourself. Public hanging was to good for them. Should have come up with something that fit what they did.

whocares - 1/27/2012 4:05 PM

2 Votes

Report User

shows him right 20 years aint enough, all this racial mess going on in the world: IF YOU DONT LIKE WHO OR WHAT YOU SEE WHEN YOU LEAVE YOUR HOUSE STAY INSIDE

Click Here to Add Your Comments View All

The links below are paid advertisements. FOX16 is not responsible for their content.

Current Conditions

75°	High: 87° \| Low: 74° Mostly Cloudy

Full Forecast