JACKSON, Miss. – A man implicated by federal prosecutors in placing a noose on a statue of a civil rights activist plans to plead guilty.
Federal court filings show Austin Edenfield is scheduled to plead guilty Wednesday to a criminal charge before U.S. District Judge Michael Mills in Oxford.
The court filing doesn't indicate what charge Edenfield faces. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Norman, in a June 18 court hearing, said Edenfield was involved in the February 2014 incident. A noose and a former Georgia state flag with a Confederate battle emblem were placed on a University of Mississippi statue of James Meredith.
A lawyer for Edenfield didn't respond to requests for comment.
Meredith became the university's first black student in 1962, amid violent protests that were quelled by armed federal agents and soldiers.
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