Anthony Lightfoot '92 faces up to one year in prison after pleading guilty on Wednesday to violating Morris Whitaker's civil right to help black students attend Dartmouth.
Whitaker, who graduated from Dartmouth in 1974 and is the treasurer of the Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association, received a threatening letter from Lightfoot last year.
Appearing in the U.S. District Court in Concord, Lightfoot, who is 25 and has not yet graduated from Dartmouth, entered a guilty plea to a federal civil rights misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum of one year in prison and a $20,000 fine, the Valley News reported.
Lightfoot was charged with a federal misdemeanor for violating Whitaker's civil right to help other blacks attend Dartmouth.
Lightfoot, who is part black, part white and part Native American, allegedly wrote the letter to Whitaker because he was angry about receiving mail from the Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association, the Associate Press reported. In the one-page letter, which was allegedly riddled with obscenities and racial slurs, Lightfoot explicitly threatened to lynch Whitaker and rape and then kill his wife.
A plea bargain signed Wednesday recommended a five-year probation and no fine, according to the Valley News.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Papps said the government planned to show Lightfoot threatened Whitaker due to his role helping people receive federal funds therefore prohibiting federally protected activities from occurring, the Valley News reported.
Originally, federal agents planned to charge Lightfoot with a federal offense of issuing threatening communications.
Regarding the lesser charge, Hanover Police Sergeant Frank Moran said, "I think it was in all honesty a reasonable disposition that all sides could live with."
Moran said Wednesday's hearing was "calm and very smooth."
He said the majority of questions were directed from U.S. District Judge James Muirhead to Lightfoot regarding Lightfoot's willingness to enter a guilty plea.
"The Judge confirmed that Mr. Lightfoot was competent and not coerced in any way," Moran said.
Before the hearing, Lightfoot underwent psychiatric evaluation over a seven-week period after which he was "found to be competent to enter a plea," Moran said.
Lightfoot will now have to return to court on Dec. 29 for sentencing, Moran said. He was released on $5,000 unsecured bail, which is only collected if Lightfoot fails to show for the sentencing, according to the Valley News.
In the criminal complaint issued last April in federal court, Lightfoot was accused of mailing the threatening letter on Nov. 2, 1994 from White River Junction, Vt..
A warrant issued last April for Lightfoot's arrest prompted Dean of the College Lee Pelton to suspend Lightfoot.
Lightfoot was not taken into custody until August under a federal arrest warrant after his commitment to the psychiatric hospital that began in April expired.
Lightfoot enrolled at Dartmouth in 1988. After taking two and a half years off to serve in the Gulf War, Lightfoot planned to graduate from Dartmouth last June.
His mother, Ann Lightfoot, told the Associated Press that she hopes Lightfoot's life will get back on track.
"Granted what he did was wrong, but he's paid a price ... I imagine we'll have quite a lot of things to discuss over the next few days," she said.
Lightfoot was part of a tense debate at a February community forum on the implications of an antihomosexual flier sent to the Dartmouth Area Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Organization.
Following several speeches at the Feb. 27 meeting, Lightfoot posed the first question and asked, "Why is it that you feel the need to broadcast [your homosexuality] to engender sympathy?"
