Cow killed, nine churches set on fire
Birmingham, AL (US)Incident Date: Friday, Feb 3, 2006
County: Jefferson
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Defendants/Suspects:
» Matthew Cloyd - Not Charged
» Benjamin Nathan Moseley - Not Charged
» Russell Lee Debusk - Not Charged
Case Updates: 3 update(s) available
County prosecutors said they want three former Birmingham college students to serve time in state prison after they finish their federal prison sentences for burning nine rural Alabama churches.
Matthew Cloyd, Benjamin Nathan Moseley and Russell Lee Debusk are scheduled to appear in federal court in Birmingham on Dec 20 afternoon to plead guilty to the church fires.
Defense attorneys and federal prosecutors have worked out a plea deal on the arson and conspiracy charges. Details of the agreement will be unveiled Dec 20 in court, but prosecutors said the charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years. The three will be sentenced later.
The three are also charged with state crimes in Bibb, Pickens, Greene and Sumter counties, including arson, burglary, criminal mischief and cruelty to animals for killing a cow.
Defense attorneys have been discussing a similar plea deal with county prosecutors, but none has been reached. County prosecutors said any agreement will have to include time in a state prison following their federal sentences.
"Regardless of what happens in the federal system, they are going to have to do years in the state system," Bibb County District Attorney Michael Jackson said.
Pickens County District Attorney Chris McCool agreed that state prison time in a must. "The state and federal cases are based on the same facts, but they are separate prosecutions," he said.
Jackson said he wants the three to serve time in state prison because felons generally prefer to serve their sentences in federal prison rather than state lockups, where the conditions are often more restrictive and austere.
"We just really don't want these three young men to be too comfortable," Jackson said.
Moseley and Debusk, both 20, and Cloyd, 21, are charged in five church fires that occurred Feb. 3 in Bibb County, about 50 miles southwest of Birmingham. Moseley and Cloyd are charged in four church fires that occurred Feb. 7 in Pickens, Sumter and Greene counties near the Mississippi state line and about 60 miles west of the first fires.
Prosecutors said the first fires occurred during a night of drinking and illegal hunting. They said the second fires were set to throw off investigators.
According to court documents, tire tracks from the fire scenes led police to an SUV owned by Cloyd's mother, but used primarily by him. The arrests occurred on March 8, the day after investigators interviewed Cloyd's parents.
Before the three were arrested, Moseley and Debusk were aspiring actors studying theater at Birmingham-Southern College. Cloyd had transferred the previous fall from Birmingham-Southern to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he hoped to become a doctor, like his father.
Since their arrest, the three have been held in the Shelby County Jail.
All of the churches that were burned have either reopened or are rebuilding.
Jackson said Dancy Baptist Church in Aliceville has thrived since the fire gutted it.
"It's a testament to the people there," he said.
The churches, while all Baptist, were part of three different Baptist denominations. According to court records, they were chosen because of their isolated locations, not for any religious or other reason.
Case UpdatesThree former college students accused of setting a string of church fires last year pleaded guilty to state arson and burglary charges Thursday, three days after they were sentenced on related federal counts.
Matthew Cloyd, 21, Benjamin Moseley, 20, and Russell Lee DeBusk Jr., 20, were sentenced to two years each in state prison, to be served after their federal sentences.
Cloyd and Moseley each face eight years in federal prison. DeBusk was involved in only some of the fires and was sentenced by a federal judge Monday to seven years.
Their round of pleas on Thursday resolve state charges in only five of the church fires, those in Bibb County, about 45 miles south of Birmingham, that were started Feb. 3, 2006. The defendants still face charges related to four other fires a few days later in three counties near the Mississippi line.
The fires had terrorized church-centered communities for weeks last year.
Investigators arrested the three men after linking tire tracks from the scene to the tires on a sport-utility vehicle driven by Cloyd.
All three former Birmingham-Southern College students pleaded guilty to state arson and burglary charges. Moseley also pleaded guilty to animal cruelty for shooting a cow during what they have described as a night of drunken joy riding.
None of the men spoke in court Thursday, but defense lawyers reminded the judge of apologies each had made in federal court Monday.
"I'm having a hard time balancing justice with forgiveness and mercy," the Rev. Duane Schliep, pastor of the destroyed Rehobeth Baptist Church, said Thursday. "I guess it is something I will struggle with the rest of my life."
In the federal case, the defendants also were ordered to pay a total of $3.1 million in restitution to the churches. Following their release, each must perform 300 hours of community service work for the congregations. | Source: MyFox Memphis - April 12, 2007
Update posted on Apr 15, 2007 - 11:17PM |
| The three are also charged with state crimes in Bibb, Pickens, Greene and Sumter counties, including arson, burglary, criminal mischief and cruelty to animals for killing a cow. Defense attorneys have been discussing a similar plea deal with county prosecutors, but none has been reached. | Source: ABC News - Dec 20, 2006
Update posted on Dec 20, 2006 - 11:33PM |
Three former college students pleaded guilty on Wednesday to burning Alabama churches in February in a case that drew national attention and brought dozens of federal agents to the state.
Matthew Lee Cloyd, 21, and Benjamin Moseley, 20, pleaded guilty in a federal court to conspiracy and arson in the burning of nine Baptist churches. Russell Debusk, 20, pleaded guilty in five attacks.
At the time, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms made the case, which involved five white and four black churches, its top national priority. Churchgoers mounted round-the-clock vigils on their buildings.
Under a plea agreement, prosecutors requested that Judge David Proctor hand down sentences of eight years plus five years probation, more than the minimum, in part because two firefighters were injured.
The three men, who wore orange jumpsuits and leg chains, appeared contrite in court while their mothers cried. Sentencing is expected in three months.
An attorney said the men lit the first five fires after a night of deer hunting and drinking.
Four nights later Cloyd and Moseley torched four churches in a different part of the state in a bid to divert attention, according to the government.
Investigators said they traced a tire track at one of the churches to Cloyd's car.
"We are in the business of forgiving and we have to do that. We pray the church, the communities and the family will be healed," said Bob Little, pastor of Galilee Baptist Church in Panola, Sumter County, which is set to reopen on February 1. | Source: Reuters - Dec 20, 2006
Update posted on Dec 20, 2006 - 11:31PM |
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