Arrests made in church fires

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Three suspects were arrested Wednesday in connection with a string of rural church fires that plagued Alabama in early February in what one of the suspects is saying started out as a "joke" that went too far.

Matthew Lee Cloyd, 20, was in federal custody along with Benjamin Moseley and Russell Lee DeBusk Jr., both 19. Moseley and DeBusk, both students at the Birmingham Southern College, were arrested and arraigned earlier in the day, facing charges of conspiracy and individual counts in the arsons at five Bibb County churches and four in west Alabama, officials said.

Moseley and DeBusk were being held in custody until their hearing set for Friday. Cloyd was expected to appear in court as soon as the judge's docket would allow.

What do you think should happen to them? I think they are pretty stupid... anyone stupid enough to 1) Think burning churches down is funny and 2) thinks they can get away with it needs to be seriously beaten until they have some kind of common sense.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,187183,00.html

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@Brent cv,

throw the book at them.

0 Replies

@Brent cv,

It's good to know that they started burning the white churches to throw the cops off of a potential racial motive. There's nothing like covering your back by committing a few extra crimes.

1 Reply

@Brent cv,

Worked out for them, didn't it?

:no:

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@Brent cv,

Matthew Cloyd's Facebook Screenshots

0 Replies

@jatuab,

jatuab wrote:

It's good to know that they started burning the white churches to throw the cops off of a potential racial motive. There's nothing like covering your back by committing a few extra crimes.

Yeah they may of burned a few "white" ones to throw them off but what about the hate to go after specifically baptist churches? A hate crime if i ever saw one.

1 Reply

@Drnaline,

Drnaline wrote:

Yeah they may of burned a few "white" ones to throw them off but what about the hate to go after specifically baptist churches? A hate crime if i ever saw one.

Give me a break. It's Alabama. Baptist Churches out number any other church.

I do not believe it was a hate crime

1 Reply

@Brent cv,

how can you say it wasn't a hate crime?? burning churches, whether white, black, baptist, presbyterian, catholic... who the hell cares? It still constitutes a hate crime in my book.
I say fry 'em

http://www.exquisitelyerotic.net/forums/images/smilies/yes.gif

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@Brent cv,

I don't believe it was a hate crime.

I think it was a bunch of "untouchable" rich kids who accidentally burned one down, got off on the thrill, and kept going.

0 Replies

@ohiosweetheart,

ohiosweetheart wrote:

how can you say it wasn't a hate crime?? burning churches, whether white, black, baptist, presbyterian, catholic... who the hell cares? It still constitutes a hate crime in my book.
I say fry 'em

It's not a hate crime in the legal sense.

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@Brent cv,

Brent wrote:

Give me a break. It's Alabama. Baptist Churches out number any other church.

I do not believe it was a hate crime

If they were all gay baptist churches would it be hate? I always thought it had to be a malicious attempt on a specific group?

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@Brent cv,

dictionary.com wrote:

hate crime
n. A crime motivated by prejudice against a social group

These were crimes commited against a social group, which you could consider to be Baptists, religion as a whole, or whatever. However, I don't think that these crimes were motivated by prejudice. Several of my friends knew one of these kids, and they were all shocked. It's not like he was openly anti-religion. In fact, I think he even went to church occasionally. And before you say anything about that, think about it, he's in college. Mommy and Daddy aren't making him go anymore. If he went it was because he wanted to.

So while the crimes seem to fit the pattern of a hate crime, the means do not match the definition.

2 Replies

@ndjs,

ndjs wrote:

These were crimes commited against a social group, which you could consider to be Baptists, religion as a whole, or whatever. However, I don't think that these crimes were motivated by prejudice. Several of my friends knew one of these kids, and they were all shocked. It's not like he was openly anti-religion. In fact, I think he even went to church occasionally. And before you say anything about that, think about it, he's in college. Mommy and Daddy aren't making him go anymore. If he went it was because he wanted to.

So while the crimes seem to fit the pattern of a hate crime, the means do not match the definition.

Exactly

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@Brent cv,

ah ok I gotcha, as far as the "legal" definition is concerned. But imo it's still a hate crime, definitions aside.

0 Replies

@ndjs,

ndjs wrote:

These were crimes commited against a social group, which you could consider to be Baptists, religion as a whole, or whatever. However, I don't think that these crimes were motivated by prejudice. Several of my friends knew one of these kids, and they were all shocked. It's not like he was openly anti-religion. In fact, I think he even went to church occasionally. And before you say anything about that, think about it, he's in college. Mommy and Daddy aren't making him go anymore. If he went it was because he wanted to.

So while the crimes seem to fit the pattern of a hate crime, the means do not match the definition.

The only thing i see wrong with your arguement is you associate anti-religious with anti-baptist. They are not related. If he went to baptist church then maybe there is some ground?

1 Reply

@Drnaline,

Drnaline wrote:

The only thing i see wrong with your arguement is you associate anti-religious with anti-baptist. They are not related. If he went to baptist church then maybe there is some ground?

These are rich spoiled kids with nothing better to do than burn down churches for their fun. They did not target just Baptists because they hate baptists.

1 Reply

@Brent cv,

I'm not even sure that all the churches were Baptist churches. I know of 3 churches within 2 miles of my apartment. 2 are Baptist. Pretty good odds if you're not looking for a certain denomination.

And that's the way this whole city is.

1 Reply

@Brent cv,

Brent wrote:

These are rich spoiled kids with nothing better to do than burn down churches for their fun. They did not target just Baptists because they hate baptists.

Then explasin why they burned down only baptist churches? They were the only ones they could find?

1 Reply

@ndjs,

ndjs wrote:

I'm not even sure that all the churches were Baptist churches. I know of 3 churches within 2 miles of my apartment. 2 are Baptist. Pretty good odds if you're not looking for a certain denomination.

And that's the way this whole city is.

Seems you have a one in three chance given your odds. Yet all were baptist. For the amount of churches that were hit i think they were looking for a specific religion?

0 Replies

@Brent cv,

Baptist churches here definitely tend to be the largest, and I know if I'm gonna go **** somethin up, I want it to be big.

And I'd have a 2/3 chance...

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Arrests made in church fires

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