SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Supreme Court refused yesterday to hear an appeal from a Utah man convicted of violating the civil rights of an interracial couple by burning a cross in their yard.
Michael Brad Magleby, 33, is serving a dozen years at a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
The justices, without comment, turned away Magleby's arguments that his conduct was protected by the First Amendment and wasn't threatening.
In September 1998, Magleby and a juvenile companion made a wooden cross, doused it with gasoline and then set it afire on the lawn of a Salt Lake City couple.
An all-white jury found Magleby guilty in 1999 of conspiring to violate the civil rights of Ronald Henry, who is black, and then-wife Robyn Henry, who is white. Magleby was also convicted of interfering with the right to occupy a dwelling free of intimidation because of race; witness tampering; and creating a fake alibi.
One of Magleby's appeals lawyers, Bel-Ami Jean J. De Montreux, said yesterday that Magleby was not a racist and that the cross-burning was a prank to impress friends.
De Montreux took Magleby's case to a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed the conviction in 2001.
Among Magleby's claims to the U.S. Supreme Court in Magleby v. U.S. was that De Montreux was ineffective handling the first appeal, "which was a big surprise to me," the lawyer said yesterday.
"It's OK — people have to appeal and make the arguments they can," he said.
The 10th Circuit panel said there was no doubt "that Mr. Magleby targeted the Henrys because of their race." It said trial witnesses testified they had seen Magleby visit white supremacist groups' Web sites on the Internet, listen to and sing along with racist CDs and say "the black man is bringing me down."
Magleby is being held in Fort Worth at the Federal Medical Center, a 1,700-inmate prison that no longer functions as a medical facility, officials said yesterday.
Magleby is scheduled to be released March 24, 2010, according to the Bureau of Prison's Web site, which tracks inmates in the federal system.