Lawyer: Ex-Ole Miss Student Didn’t Hang Noose On Meredith Statue

The James Meredith statue is seen on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, Miss., Monday, Feb. 17, 2014. A $25,000 reward is available for information leading to the arrest of two men involved in sullying t... The James Meredith statue is seen on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, Miss., Monday, Feb. 17, 2014. A $25,000 reward is available for information leading to the arrest of two men involved in sullying the statue early Sunday, Feb. 16. (AP Photo/The Daily Mississippian, Thomas Graning) MORE LESS
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An attorney for a former student at the University of Mississippi said Monday that his client did not hang a noose on the statue of James Meredith, the first black student to attend the school.

Graeme Phillip Harris was charged Friday with one count of conspiracy to violate civil rights and one count of using threat of force to intimidate black students because of their race, according to a press release from the Justice Department. He was accused of hanging a rope and a flag sporting the Confederate battle emblem around the neck of the Meredith statue in February 2014.

Harris’ attorney, David Hill, said Monday it was “patently untrue” that the man who hung the noose around the Meredith statue was indicted on federal civil rights charges, as the Justice Department release stated.

“Graeme Harris did not tie a rope around the neck of the James Meredith statue, and the student who admitted to that action was not indicted,” Hill said in a news release.

While the DOJ press release announcing the indictment identified Harris as a student at Ole Miss, a university spokesperson told NBC News that Harris withdrew from the school in the spring of 2014.

At the time of the incident, local authorities had said they were close to bringing charges against three freshmen students. The national Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity also suspended its Ole Miss chapter and kicked out three students suspected of being involved in the racially charged vandalism.

The names of those suspects or the students expelled from the fraternity were not disclosed.

Read Hill’s full statement below:

In the early morning hours of Feb. 16, 2014, three Georgia teenagers, after a night of binge drinking in a university fraternity house, engaged in alcohol-fueled conduct that was foolish, insensitive, and offensive. Only one of those teenagers, Graeme Harris, was selected for prosecution and intensive investigation (only he had his cell phone seized, computer seized, vehicle FBI searched, dorm room FBI searched and even his family’s Georgia home FBI searched). The other two have apparently received federal forgiveness for any involvement, or at least after 13 months have not been intensively investigated nor indicted, even though the government has known who they are since about February 18, 2014. The title of the Friday, March 27, 2015, Department of Justice press release proclaimed that the “man who tied rope around neck of James Meredith Statue on University of Mississippi Campus” was “indicted on civil rights charges,” which is patently untrue. Graeme Harris did not tie a rope around the neck of the James Meredith statue, and the student who admitted to that action was not indicted.

Though Graeme’s presence at such an insensitive event was a serious lack of judgment, he has physically injured no one. He did not intend to threaten, intimidate, or oppress any single individual or group. He did not understand the ramifications of his actions as anything beyond a drunken prank. In order to convict him, the law requires that Graeme have intent to injure, intimidate, oppress, or threaten, which he did not. Graeme Harris is not guilty of the government’s criminal charges brought against him, and in spite of the certainty expressed in the DOJ press release on Friday and the multitude of news sources since, the American public should remember that Graeme Harris is only accused and not convicted, and conviction requires evidence, not press releases.

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