KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Sentencing has been reset for a man convicted of violating the civil rights of another man by burning a cross in his yard.
Steven Dewayne Archer of Heiskell appeared on Monday before U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Phillips in Knoxville. A jury convicted him last year of violating the rights of Billy Woodruff.
Archers' niece, who is white, and Woodruff, who is black, lived at a home in Anderson County where a large cross was burned in 2008.
Defense attorney James A.H. Bell told the court the issue for Archer wasn't Woodruff's race, but his character, reports The Knoxville News Sentinel.
The judge said the jury rejected that argument at trial. Sentencing was reset for Friday on a request that Archer be allowed to report to prison on his own.
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