Iowa prosecutors dropped hate crime charges against Michael Cassidy, the Veteran who beheaded a statue of Satan inside the Iowa Capitol last year.
Polk County Democratic Attorney Kimberly Graham enhanced Cassidy’s charges to include hate crimes, which increased the potential sentence to five years in prison after he was convicted.
Cassidy entered a guilty plea for third-degree criminal mischief on Friday.
The Post Millennial reports: In return, he avoided prison time in exchange for the payment of a fine and the dismissal of the hate crime enhancements.
Cassidy’s attorney, David Younts told the paper that prosecutors “finally agreed to drop the hate crimes enhancement after months-long legal battles over every aspect of this case.”
“It is because of the people that came to his aid and an outstanding legal team that we were able to back the prosecutors into a corner and get this resolution,” Younts said.
“Instead of a felony hate crime and jail time, Cassidy received deferred judgment for damage to property and the conviction will be expunged once the court process is complete.”
“Forcing the prosecutors to drop the hate crime is a huge victory for Cassidy and for religious freedom.”
In December, Cassidy beheaded the Satanic Baphomet statue at the Iowa State Capitol on Thursday.
🚨 Christian veteran BEHEADS and tears down the Satanic l Statue at the Iowa State Capitol pic.twitter.com/EVVxPGfFqa
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 14, 2023
The statue caused outrage after the Satanic Temple received permission to place it on display at the Iowa State Capitol.
Cassidy said he destroyed the statue to “awaken Christians to the anti-Christian acts promoted by our government.”
However, objecting to Satanic displays makes you a “hateful” person.
Rather than charging Caddidy with a misdemeanor damage to property or vandalism, prosecutors charged the veteran with felony third-degree criminal mischief, arguing that the act was “in violation of individual rights” under Iowa’s hate crime statute.
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