Couple set to go on trial over staged cross burning in front of campaign sign for Black candidate

DENVER — 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.

DENVER — 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.