SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Thursday rested their case against a white man charged with burning down a western Massachusetts church with a mostly black congregation in alleged anger over Barack Obama's election as president.
A lawyer for 26-year-old Michael Jacques began
presenting the defense's case Thursday in U.S. District Court in Springfield
after the prosecution's final witness left the stand. Jurors are expected to
hear closing arguments on Monday, exactly three weeks after the trial began.
Jacques' lawyer, Lori Levinson, said her client
likely won't be testifying, but she did not rule it out.
Jacques and two friends were charged with setting
fire to the Macedonia Church of God in Christ in Springfield only hours after
Obama's election in November 2008. Prosecutors and trial witnesses said the
three men, who all live in the city, engaged in racist activities, including
using racial epithets and training a dog to sic black people.
Jacques' two friends pleaded guilty. Benjamin
Haskell was sentenced to nine years in prison in November. Thomas Gleason
pleaded guilty last year and awaits sentencing after testifying in Jacques
trial for the prosecution.
Authorities say all three admitted to burning the
church down during videotaped confessions. Jacques insists he's innocent and
says he was coerced into confessing while suffering withdrawal from painkillers
and cigarettes.
Jacques would face 10 to 60 years in prison if
convicted of conspiracy against civil rights, damage to religious property and
other charges.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo/The Republican, Mark M. Murray, File)
