He has plead not guilty. Evidence against him is based on handwriting analysis.
For a background on the arrest, go here.
From AP at the San Francisco Chronicle:
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The lawyer for a New Hampshire man charged with penning racist graffiti on the homes of African refugee families has entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
Raymond Stevens, 42, of Pembroke was scheduled to be arraigned on a felony criminal mischief charge in Merrimack Superior Court Wednesday, but the plea eliminates the need for that hearing.
Stevens was arrested Oct. 15 and charged with writing hateful messages in black permanent marker on the homes of four refugee families in the same Concord neighborhood in 2011 and 2012. He is free on $8,000 bond.
If convicted, Stevens faces 10 to 30 years in prison because police say the crime was motivated by hostility toward the victims’ race and national origin.
Case hinges on his handwriting, specifically the letter ‘b’:
Concord Det. Det. Wade Brown looked through more than 1,000 criminal files and complaints generated from the city’s South End between 2009-2011 looking for any handwritten documents featuring the distinctive lowercase letter “b” written like the number six, along with other distinctive letters and unusual word choices used in the graffiti.
When that search failed, Brown turned to gun permit applications and found one submitted by Stevens, who used to live in the same neighborhood where the graffiti appeared.
“Three telltale “b’s” appeared to be an exact match to the racist messages,” Brown wrote in his arrest warrant application.
Searches of Stevens’ home, car and the tattoo parlor he owns in Nashua turned up more handwriting samples that were sent to the FBI for analysis. Police also found racist cartoons and writings on his Facebook pages that “were clearly indicative of a white supremacist ideology,” according to the affidavit.
I doubt writings on Facebook will hold much water in court—we still have freedom of speech.
Photo is from this Concord Monitor story and it’s clearer there.
We have written many many posts on New Hampshire which is one of those formerly red states being turned blue with a big push to bring in refugees and other immigrants. Click here for more on New Hampshire where efforts have been made, but unsuccessful, for a moratorium on further refugee resettlement.