Couple set to go on trial over staged cross burning in front of campaign
sign for Black candidate
[May 19, 2025]
By COLLEEN SLEVIN
DENVER (AP) — In the run-up to the 2023 mayoral election in Colorado
Springs, a racial slur was scrawled across a Black candidate’s sign and
a cross set on fire in front of it.
It was a stunt to generate sympathy and support for the Black candidate,
Yemi Mobolade, prosecutors have said, but two people accused of staging
it are set to go on trial Monday, charged with making a threat against
him.
Mobolade, the city's first Black mayor, is scheduled to testify in the
case as a victim, according to court documents.
But one of the defendants claims Mobolade himself was a participant in
the plan to help him win. And the defendant’s attorneys say their
alleged actions were political theater — free speech that is
constitutionally protected and wasn’t meant to cause harm.
"This was a hoax in every sense of the word,” defendant Ashley
Blackcloud told The Associated Press. She said Mobolade knew in advance
about their plans to burn the cross, but she would not comment further,
citing a court order that bars discussing information gathered in the
case before the trial. Blackcloud, who is indigenous and Black, said the
stunt was not intended to hurt anyone.
Mobolade has previously denied any involvement emphatically. A city
spokesperson, Vanessa Zink, said the mayor did not want to want to make
any additional comment.
The second defendant — Blackcloud’s husband, Derrick Bernard — is
serving a life sentence after being convicted last year of ordering the
killing of a rapper in Colorado Springs. The man charged with carrying
out the killing was recently acquitted, and Bernard is appealing his
conviction.
Messages left for Blackcloud's lawyer and Bernard's lawyer were not
returned.
However, in motions to dismiss the case they pointed out that the cross
was set on fire in the middle of the night, which no one other than the
defendants apparently saw.
They are, however, accused of spreading word about it in emails to the
media and others that include images of the scene.
They are each charged with using a means of interstate commerce — the
internet and email — to make a threat and conveying false information
about an attempt to intimidate Mobolade with a fire. They are also both
charged with being part of a conspiracy to do that. They have pleaded
not guilty.
According to jury instructions in the case, prosecutors must prove
beyond a reasonable doubt that Bernard and Blackcloud intended Mobolade
to fear that violence would result in order for them to be found guilty.
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Colorado Springs, Colo., Mayor Yemi Mobolade considers a question
during a news conference after a hearing for the suspect in a mass
shooting at a gay nightclub Monday, June 26, 2023, in Colorado
Springs, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, file)
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Regina M. Rodriguez ruled
that the alleged actions are not ones that are clearly protected by
the First Amendment, which would have required her to dismiss the
case.
“It is up to the jury to determine whether the cross burning was a
true threat or merely political speech,” she wrote.
A third person indicted in the alleged scheme, Deanna West, pleaded
guilty in March to one count of being part of a conspiracy to set
the fire and then spread false information about it, under a plea
agreement with prosecutors. According to that agreement, West's
lawyer and government prosecutors agreed that the conspiracy’s goal
was to interfere in the campaign of Mobolade’s opponent and create
the belief that Mobolade was being discouraged from running because
of his race.
West is also scheduled to testify for the government.
According to the indictment, Bernard communicated with Mobolade
before the cross burning on April 23, 2023, and after Mobolade won
election in a May 6, 2023, runoff.
About a week before the cross burning, Bernard told the
then-candidate in a Facebook message that he was “mobilizing my
squadron in defense and for the final push. Black ops style big
brother. The klan cannot be allowed to run this city again.”
They spoke for about five minutes on the telephone three days after
the incident.
In a video statement posted on social media in December, Mobolade
said he had fully cooperated with the investigation and had been
truthful with law enforcement.
“I fully and truthfully cooperated throughout this investigation. I
had no knowledge, warning or involvement in this crime,” he said.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for Colorado, which is prosecuting the
case, declined to comment on whether it had questioned or
investigated Mobolade about whether he was involved in the cross
burning.
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