Why are Alabama arsonists getting off

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Three U.S. college students accused of burning nine churches in Alabama chose on Thursday to reject posting a bond and to remain in jail because they could have been rearrested on state charges, prosecutors said.

Magistrate Judge Robert Armstrong agreed to release Matthew Cloyd, 20, and Benjamin Moseley and Russell DeBusk, both 19, into the custody of their parents with ankle monitors and a $50,000 bond, but their lawyers said they decided to remain in jail.

Michael Jackson, the district attorney for Bibb County, Alabama, where five churches were torched, said if the trio had chosen to accept the bond on the federal charges, he would have had them rearrested on state charges and subject to a bond of $5 million instead -- $1 million per Bibb County church.

"If the Feds let them go, we'll send them to prison. I've sent a lot of people off and burning churches is one of the worst things you can do," said Jackson.

The state arson charges that Jackson planned to file carry penalties of two to 20 years in prison for each church fire, and include five counts of third-degree burglary for breaking in to commit a crime. The burglary charges carry sentences of a year and a day to 10 years per church.

"They need to be punished for a long time," said Jackson.

The federal arson charges would mean a total of from seven to 40 years in prison for the suspects, if convicted.

Defense attorney Tommy Spina, the lawyer for Cloyd, said his client wanted to see the state charges before posting a bond.

"And there is a part of Matthew that does not want to be an additional burden to his parents," said Spina.

In court documents, a federal agent quoted Moseley as saying the three had gone to Bibb County to shoot deer on February 2 and had set fire to five rural churches early the next morning. A witness quoted Cloyd as saying that was done "as a joke, and it got out of hand."

The suspects are then accused of setting fire to four more churches in a bid to set federal investigators off track.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Three college students accused in a string of rural Alabama church fires will not seek release on bond on the federal charges, their attorneys said.

A federal magistrate judge said Thursday the three men could be released on $50,000 bond, in cash or property, with strict conditions. But Matthew Lee Cloyd, Benjamin Moseley, and Russell DeBusk Jr. also face state arson charges, and would remain jailed while a state judge considered setting bond.

Moseley's attorney, Bill Clark, said his client had no plans to make the federal bond in recognition of the seriousness of the church fires and in an effort to promote healing.

“Ben Moseley is concerned for the members of the churches involved, the people in those communities and the injured firefighters,” Clark said Saturday in a statement. “It is hoped that this decision will help us move forward with efforts to resolve all of these matters in a way that will result in reconciliation and restoration.”

Attorneys for Cloyd and DeBusk confirmed their clients also would not seek to be released on bond. All three suspects remained in federal custody at the Shelby County Jail.

They were arrested March 8 on federal charges of conspiracy and setting fire to Ashby Baptist Church in Brierfield, in Bibb County. A federal grand jury will hear the charges later this month.

More
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20060319-2027-churchfires.html