Lawmakers approve ban on cross burning

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Cross burning with the intent to intimidate would be a specific crime under legislation that cleared the Missouri Legislature on Friday.

The Senate sent the bill to Gov. Bob Holden on a 34-0 vote. The House of Representatives had previously approved the measure 160-1.

Holden, who in January asked the legislature to ban cross burning, is expected to sign the bill into law.

Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have passed statutes that prohibit cross burning.

Under the Missouri measure, a person who burns a cross in an attempt to intimidate others would be guilty of a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in the county jail and a $1,000 fine.

A subsequent offense would be a class D felony, which carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

Although not specifically illegal under current Missouri law, cross burning has been successfully prosecuted using the state's hate crimes statute, including a 2002 Howard County case. A 2000 cross burning incident in Sikeston was successfully prosecuted under federal law.

Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau and the bill's upper chamber sponsor, has said placing a specific cross burning ban in state law is an important symbolic statement that such behavior will not be tolerated.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that cross burning with the purpose of intimidation isn't constitutionally protected free speech and that states may outlaw the practice.

The bill is HB 1074.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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