Man sentenced to nearly 4 years in cross burning hoax involving Mobolade

Body

Derrick Bernard, a man convicted in a federal cross-burning hoax tied to Colorado Springs’ 2023 mayoral campaign, was sentenced on April 1 to nearly four years in prison, according to court proceedings described by the Associated Press. The case centered on a cross that Bernard said was meant to help elect Yemi Mobolade, Colorado Springs’ first Black mayor, and a campaign sign bearing a racial slur. U.S. District Judge Regina Rodriguez said the evidence showed the conduct crossed into a threat and a scheme meant to interfere with the election.

Rodriguez rejected Bernard’s assertion that Mobolade knew about the plan, saying jurors had turned down that claim when they convicted Bernard and his wife after a trial in 2023. The judge said the constitutional backdrop mattered because cross burning can be protected speech, but the prosecution’s case depended on whether the cross burning was a threat directed at Mobolade.

Jurors found Bernard, who is also Black, and his wife, Ashley Blackcloud, guilty of making a threat or conveying false information about a threat. Jurors also found them guilty of conspiring to do so together, the AP said. Rodriguez said jurors concluded that the cross burning and the racial slur on a campaign sign did not function as protected expression untethered from intimidation.

Rodriguez said the cross was set on fire, a racial slur was written on one of Mobolade’s campaign signs, and word about the incident was spread, and that the actions harmed Mobolade and his family and affected the city’s election. The judge also described the impact on Bernard, including testimony and statements described in the coverage about Bernard’s mental-health issues and his beliefs about officials in Colorado Springs.

As Mobolade addressed the court with Bernard sitting a few feet away, the AP reported that Mobolade told Rodriguez he had communicated with Bernard before and after the cross burning but denied any involvement in the scheme. Mobolade also said the fear for his family became immediate: he told the judge that he and his wife stopped walking their children to school and that his wife was having nightmares about their home being set on fire. Mobolade said he and his family purchased an escape ladder as a result of those fears.

Mobolade said Bernard, who worked at a local radio station and was in contact with community leaders through that work, “took advantage of my openess,” according to the AP account. Now running for re-election, Mobolade said he has become more cautious, and he described seeking help to forgive.

The AP reported that Bernard, whose attorney said he has mental health issues, had previously been sentenced to life in state prison for another case involving the orchestration of the killing of a rapper in Colorado Springs. In this cross-burning matter, Blackcloud was sentenced to a year and a day, but she is appealing her conviction and sentence.

A third person indicted in the cross-burning scheme, Deanna West, pleaded guilty to one count connected to the conspiracy under a plea agreement. Prosecutors and West’s lawyer agreed, the AP said, that the conspiracy’s goal was to interfere in the campaign of Mobolade’s opponent and create the belief that Mobolade was being discouraged from running because of his race.