ALABAMA – A former secretary of the Ku Klux Klan is facing up to five years in prison for lying during a federal grand jury investigation into a racially motivated cross-burning in the entrance to an African-American neighborhood, according to federal officials.
The cross-burning was planned to threaten and intimidate residents, officials claim.
Pamela Morris, former secretary of a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in Ozark, Alabama, plead guilty today in U.S. District Court to committing perjury during a grand jury’s investigation into a racially motivated cross-burning, officials said.
Morris, 46, plead guilty to committing perjury during an investigation, authorities said.
“Defendant Morris lied under oath blatantly and repeatedly to hinder an investigation into a cross-burning that was committed to intimidate an entire community,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division. “The department will continue to hold accountable not only those who commit such acts of violence, but also those who lie and obstruct the investigation into these crimes of intimidation.”
Morris admitted in plea documents that on Feb. 20, 2013, she lied to a federal grand jury looking into a cross-burning committed by Steven Joshua Dinkle, Morris’s son and the leader of the local KKK, and Thomas Smith, another KKK member, officials claim.
On May 8, 2009, Dinkle and Smith burned a six-foot tall cross at the entrance to an African-American neighborhood in Ozark to threaten and intimidate residents. In sworn testimony before the grand jury, Morris made several false statements, including denying that she had been the secretary of the chapter or involved with the KKK at all.
In pleading guilty, authorities said Morris admitted that she had been an officer of the KKK and that her testimony denying any connection to the organization was false. She further acknowledged that she knew Dinkle had committed the cross-burning. In addition, Morris admitted that she testified falsely to prevent the grand jury from learning about other KKK members who had information relevant to the investigation, officials said.
Morris faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.
Dinkle pleaded guilty on Feb. 3, 2014, to hate crime and obstruction of justice charges related to the cross-burning.
On May 15, 2014, he was sentenced to serve two years in prison. Smith, Dinkle’s co-conspirator, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to interfere with housing rights on Dec. 6, 2013.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 19, 2014.