Man faces year in prison for nooses

ALEXANDRIA, La., April 26 (UPI) -- A Louisiana man has pleaded guilty to trying to intimidate a group of civil rights marchers last year by draping hangman's nooses off the back of a truck.

Jeremiah Munsen pleaded guilty Friday to a misdemeanor charge of hindering interstate travel of marchers from Tennessee who waited in downtown Alexandria, La., for return-home buses after the Sept. 20 civil rights rally in Jena, La., the Shreveport (La.) Times reported Saturday.

He faces maximum penalties of one year in federal prison and a fine of $100,000. U.S. District Judge Dee Drell set sentencing for Aug. 15, the newspaper reported.

Munsen and a teenage accomplice fashioned nooses out of electrical extension cords. He was originally charged with a felony hate crime charge of conspiring to deprive the marchers of their civil rights by using a noose to intimidate marchers.

Munsen had faced 11 years in prison.

"It is a violation of federal law to intimidate, oppress, injure or threaten people because of their race and because those people are exercising and enjoying rights guaranteed and protected by the laws and Constitution of the United States," U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana Donald Washington said.