Hearing on US church arsons postponed

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2006

BIRMINGHAM, United States (AFP) — A detention hearing for three college students arrested for burning down nine rural Alabama churches was postponed to give the defense more time to prepare.

Russell DeBusk and Ben Moseley, both 19, and Matthew Cloyd, 20, were arrested Wednesday for deliberately setting the Baptist churches on fire on February 3 and February 7 in what one reportedly said started as a "joke" and then "got out of hand."

The three face federal charges of conspiracy and arson in the case, which initially provoked worries of racial or other motives, though the churches served both white and black communities.

"There is no indication that this is a hate crime," FBI agent Carmen Adams said Wednesday. "They were very excited by the fires," she said...