A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a man to nearly four years in prison over a cross-burning plot tied to an effort he claimed was meant to help elect Colorado Springs’ first Black mayor.
Derrick Bernard insisted that Mayor Yemi Mobolade was aware of his plan, but U.S. District Judge Regina Rodriguez dismissed that assertion, pointing out that jurors had already rejected it when they convicted Bernard and his wife last year over the 2023 scheme.
The case hinged on a legal distinction: although cross burning can be protected speech under the First Amendment, prosecutors had to show it amounted to a threat against Mobolade rather than mere expression…