Man Sentenced For Hanging Noose at Ole Miss (UPDATED)

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The man who was indicted for placing a noose around the neck of a statue depicting a civil rights legend has been sentenced for his part in the crime.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael P. Mills of the Northern District of Mississippi last week sentenced Graeme Phillip Harris to six months in prison and one year supervised release for helping place a rope around the neck of the James Meredith statue on the University of Mississippi campus, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

The sentence follows the March indictment returned against Harris, who in June pleaded guilty to one count of using a threat of force to intimidate African-American students because of their race or color.

The incident occurred in the early morning hours of Feb. 16, 2014.

According to court documents, Harris and two accomplices ”hung a rope and an outdated version of the Georgia state flag — which prominently depicts the Confederate battle flag — around the neck of the Meredith statue, with the intent to threaten and intimidate African-American students and employees at the university,” the U.S. Department of Justice said.

The statue honors Meredith’s role in integrating the university as its first African-American student.

Harris, who, according to court documents, attended Alpharetta and Milton high schools, was initially indicted by a federal grand jury on March 27 on one count of conspiracy to violate civil rights and one count of using a threat of force to intimidate African-American students because of their race or color.

As part of an agreement, he pleaded guilty June 18 to the latter count.

“Those who would use threats and intimidation to spread fear and hatred through our schools and workplaces should know that the Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute these cases,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Civil Rights Division. “No one should have to endure threats or intimidation because of their race or the color of their skin.”

David G. Hill, an Oxford, Mississippi-based attorney representing Harris, said he was disappointed in the prison sentence because, according to his experience, few federal misdemeanors result in prison time.

“I thought we had made a strong pre-sentence showing justifying an alternative sentence, either outright probation or home detention specifically considering Graeme’s own efforts at moving forward with his life in positive fashion and considering the strong support network in his home and community to aid and assist him in growing and moving forward from this completely thoughtless and insensitive act,” Hill added.

The attorney went on to comment about ”Greek life” at the university. His parents are not from the American South -- his father is originally from Australia, -- do not have a post-secondary education and have never been members of a sorority or fraternity.

When Harris’s parents agreed to pay the cost for their son to pledge the fraternity, Harris said they were not aware they were signing him up for “unlimited, unsupervised, underage consumption of alcohol.”

“It should not surprise anybody that this incident which has generated such widespread media attention, justifiably, happened at the end of a very drunken fraternity Saturday night,” Hill continued. “Graeme Harris is a very positive and focused young man. He wants to succeed in life -- and he will. He has personally grown tremendously from this self-imposed learning experience, and he will continue to do so. Though very disappointed in what the court has ordered for him, he accepts it and is committed to moving forward, getting this drunken fraternity Saturday night behind him, and becoming the man and person he is committed to becoming.”

The case is ongoing, and is being investigated by the Oxford Resident Agency of the FBI’s Jackson, Mississippi, Division’s and the University of Mississippi Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Mississippi.

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Image via Shutterstock