BURLINGTON — A judge has denied a motion to dismiss hate crime charges in the case of a North Carolina man accused of distributing Ku Klux Klan fliers in the south end last year.
Prosecutors allege William Schenk, 22, targeted two women of color with the KKK fliers that were posted to the doors of their apartments. The two women were the only people known to have received the fliers.
Schenck was arrested last November and charged with aggravated disorderly conduct charges, both misdemeanors, enhanced by a hate crime penalty. Disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, typically carries a maximum sentence of 60 days, but because it appears to be racially motivated, the State’s Attorney is seeking an enhanced crime of up to two additional years for each count.
Schenk has been held at the Northwestern State Correctional Facility near St. Albans since his arrest.
His public defender, Sandra Lee, filed a motion in December seeking that the charges be dismissed on the grounds they violate her clients First Amendment right to freedom of speech and do not amount to threats.
Lee also argued that her client is being prosecuted for membership in a group, which also violates the First Amendment. Schenk told detectives that he is a “Kleagle” or recruiter for the KKK.
Chittenden County Superior Court Judge Gregory Rainville denied that motion in a ruling on Tuesday, and will let the State’s Attorney bring the charges against Schenk.
Considering only the evidence presented by the state in a favorable light, as the law requires for motions to dismiss, Rainville concluded that posting the fliers is not protected speech.
The fliers depict a hooded Klan member on a horse holding a burning cross, and the only two people to receive them were a Mexican woman and an African American women.
The case will go to trial and is set for jury draw at the end of April.
