Thursday, August 26, 1999
Hate-crime hoax at Miami?
BY STEVE KEMME
The Cincinnati Enquirer
OXFORD — Fingerprints and free speech make up the heart of the trial of two former Miami University students accused of posting racist and anti-gay fliers as a hoax.
Thirty-six fingerprints or palm prints of Nathaniel Snow and six prints of Brad M. Allen were found on the fliers, assistant prosecuting attorney Jeff Giuliano said Wednesday in his opening statement in Butler County Area I Court.
The two black men are responsible for perpetuating a “hate-crime hoax,” he said.
But defense attorneys said the fingerprints don't prove the two men posted the fliers. Even if they did hang the fliers, they didn't commit a crime because the First Amendment permits the posting of offensive fliers, said Kenneth Lawson, Mr. Snow's attorney.
“I expect the evidence to show that we wouldn't be here today if it weren't for the content of the fliers,” Mr. Lawson said.
Mr. Snow, 22, of College Hill and Mr. Allen, 21, of suburban Cleveland are charged with criminal mischief and criminal trespassing. The trial, which started Monday, will re sume Friday.
Syd Carthell, assistant director of affirmative action for minority affairs at Miami, testified that at 8 p.m. Oct. 30, he discovered 55 fliers with racist and anti-gay messages hanging on walls, doors and bulletin boards in Miami's Center for Black Culture and Learning.
He said he also saw racist messages that had been typed on four computer screens.
The prosecution showed a videotape he shot of the posters that evening after campus police were called to the scene.
The racist fliers sparked a Nov. 10 protest by 100 students, most of them black, who linked arms and stopped traffic at U.S. 27 and Ohio 73.
Mr. Snow, who was president of the Black Student Action Association, and Mr. Allen, who participated in the Nov. 10 protest, withdrew from Miami on Jan. 20 — when university officials confronted them with evidence against them.
Three prosecution witnesses said Mr. Snow was at the center just before it was closed for the night at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 30, and one witness said Mr. Allen was there.
Mr. Carthell said no student was supposed to be in the center after hours without his permission and the presence of a graduate assistant.
He said he didn't give Mr. Snow permission to stay after hours Oct. 30.
But Hongxia Shi, a graduate assistant who worked at the center, said students frequently were allowed inside the center after hours to work at computers or perform other activities without a graduate assistant being there.
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