Attorney: Man accused of burning gay pride flag was pulling drunken prank, not committing hate crime

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Maggie O'Brien

The man accused of stealing a lesbian couple's gay pride flag and setting it on fire was pulling a drunken prank, not committing a hate crime, his attorney said Wednesday.

Cameron Mayfield didn't know that the women – who live about a block from his house – are gay, Omaha attorney James Martin Davis said after his client's first court appearance.

Davis called the rainbow flag a windsock.

Mayfield, charged with felony arson with extenuating circumstances and misdemeanor resisting arrest, was released from jail on his own recognizance. A judge scheduled a preliminary hearing for March 27.

Stay on Omaha.com for more on this developing story.

Video: http://studio.omaha.com/?ndn.trackingGroup=91341&ndn.siteSection=omahawh_nws_loc_sty_pp&ndn.videoId=28680886&freewheel=91341&sitesection=omahawh_nws_loc_sty_pp&vid=28680886

Read more: http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/attorney-man-accused-of-burning-gay-pride-flag-was-pulling/article_de5ad718-c283-11e4-a0f7-b3bdd29b9cb0.html

[niyad]

1. and the sun comes up in the north.

[MNBrewer]

2. I believe that he was drunk....

the rest? mmmmmmm

[Chipper Chat]

3. He must be an admirer of congresswoman Virginia Foxx

who said ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE that Matthew Shepard's death was the result of a robbery not a hatecrime.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

4. Hatred of gay folks is the new hatred of black folks, or, wait.

Which group does the American Taliban (TEAparTY) hate more?

[bigwillq]

5. Black gays (nt)

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

6. Black lesbians? How about black lesbians with attitude...

[bigwillq]

7. Oh, no. Not with attitude!

Teaparty heads will roll.

[Ken Burch]

22. So they've issued a fatwa against Wanda Sykes? n/t.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

23. Love her...

[awoke_in_2003]

19. Gay black atheists. nt

[Ken Burch]

24. Which is probably a the name of a band somewhere. n/t.

[SoapBox]

11. Haters have no more Reds-Under-the-Beds to hate..l

So they cooked up the new great FEAR, the LGBT Community. I would say that most Americans don't even know anyone gay but they now are SCARED of "them".

Haters like this clown trying to claim that he didn't even know they were gay...I call bullshit. And of all things in a neighborhood that this drunken asshole could have vandalized, why was it that Pride flag?

[azurnoir]

8. ah ya sure just like Mel Gibson

can we call this a defense fail? yep yep yep we can

[SoapBox]

12. Makes me think of the Twinkie Defense...

[KamaAina]

9. Riiiiight. Because no one has ever committed a hate crime while drunk.

[They_Live]

10. I'm pretty sure that

BOTH qualify in this instance.

[Paladin]

13. In Vino Veritas.

Getting drunk caused Mayfield to act out his basest, most cherished hatreds and prejudices. I hope he gets nailed for this.

[Coventina]

18. Beat me to it!!

[jtuck004]

14. "Cameron Mayfield didn't know" < Liar n/t

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

15. So says he?

[olddad56]

16. Oh, so it wasn't a hate crime because he was drunk. Interesting

[1StrongBlackMan]

17. Ughhh, Mr. Attorney ...

If it were a Mexican flag or an Iranian flag, we wouldn’t even be here,” Davis said after Mayfield’s first court appearance Wednesday morning. “Just because the victims ... are gay doesn’t make it a hate crime.”

Yes, you would!

[shenmue]

20. Eeeeeew

Sure he set stuff on fire, but that's because he was so happy!

[nomorenomore08]

21. Either way, he's still charged with a felony (as he should be).

And I don't think "drunken prank" and "hate crime" are mutually exclusive, necessarily.

[Judi Lynn]

25. No adult human being should imagine it's O.K. to "get drunk" and enter neighbors' yards

without invitation, and burn up their property.

What kind of clowns were his parents, anyway, to have raised such a beast?

[center]

Cameron Mayfield

Who would want this thing even driving through his/her town? [/center]

[Aerows]

26. I got frightened when my minimal

rainbow sticker on my car got pulled off in the parking lot at work.

You can't help it - it scares you.

My *girlfriend* pulled it off because she didn't like the way it was getting crispy in the sun and when she washed the car and tried to wax it, it fell off.

She laughed at me because I assumed the worst and hadn't noticed it until the next day, but she also realize that it was kind of scary.