Louisiana Man Indicted for Involvement in Hate Crime at School

WASHINGTON – A federal grand jury has indicted Christopher Shane Montgomery, a resident of Bastrop, La., for conspiring to commit a hate crime, tampering with a witness and lying to federal authorities, announced the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana. If convicted of these charges, Montgomery faces up to 40 years in prison.

The four-count indictment alleges that on or about Nov. 6, 2007, Shane Montgomery and another person not identified in the indictment tied a noose around the neck of a dead raccoon and hung the raccoon and noose from a flagpole at Beekman Junior High School in Bastrop in order to intimidate African-American students attending the school under a court-ordered busing policy. Montgomery is also charged for lying on two occasions to an FBI agent investigating the hate crime and for tampering with a witness during the investigation.

This case is being investigated by the FBI. This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Kevonne Small of the Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Mudrick of the Western District of Louisiana.

An indictment is only an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.