Man gets second plea hearing over noose on Ole Miss statue
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – A man federal prosecutors say placed a noose on a statue of a civil rights activist will get a second chance to plead guilty.
Federal court filings show Austin Edenfield is set for a March 24 hearing on a criminal charge before U.S. District Judge Michael Mills in Oxford. Mills delayed Edenfield’s September plea hearing.
The filing doesn’t indicate what charge Edenfield faces. A prosecutor said in June that Edenfield took part in the February 2014 incident. A noose and a former Georgia state flag with a Confederate battle emblem were placed on a University of Mississippi statue of James Meredith. Another man has pleaded guilty.
Edenfield’s lawyer didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Meredith became the university’s first black student in 1962, amid violence quelled by federal troops.
