(NAME-MCE) Prosecutor drops charges in CMU noose case

[Anselmo Villanueva]

Prosecutors have decided not to bring charges against the student who
put up four nooses in a classroom at Central Michigan University last
year, The Saginaw News reported. Authorities — based on the student's
comments and a review of his computer use — determined that his
actions were not racially motivated.

http://www.mlive.com/saginawnews/news/index.ssf/2008/07/prosecutor_drops_charges_in_cm.html

Prosecutor drops charges in CMU noose case

by LaNia Coleman | The Saginaw News
Tuesday July 29, 2008, 8:55 PM

MOUNT PLEASANT, Michigan -- Isabella County Prosecutor Larry J.
Burdick said Tuesday he will not seek charges against the person who
hung four nooses in a Central Michigan University classroom last
November.

A forensic examination of the contents of the suspect's computer
indicated the nooses were not racially-motivated, Burdick said.

Dave Pape, chairman of the Department of Engineering and Technology,
called university police Nov. 12 after a student reported seeing the
nooses, formed from flexible compressed gas lines, in a computer lab
in the Industrial Educational Technology Building.

While police investigated, an anonymous student , in an e-mail to
Pape, admitted that he hung the nooses, Burdick said.

The student also apologized.

The 28-year-old senior engineering student identified himself to
police the next day.

Investigators questioned him and the students who worked with him, who
corroborated his story.

"Young people, particularly college students, use their personal
computers as an extension of themselves. From the Web sites they visit
to the e-mails they send to documents they create, their computers are
truly a window into their state of mind.

"Because intent lies at the heart of the charge (ethnic intimidation)
that was under consideration, both we and the FBI felt it important to
fully and carefully examine the individual's personal computer to see
if there was anything to suggest his actions were racially motivated."