2 guilty for toppling North Carolina campus' Confederate statue 'Silent Sam'

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — Two men face a day in jail after being found guilty of rioting, damaging property and defacing a Confederate monument that had stood for a century on the campus of North Carolina's flagship public university.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reports that the state district court judge on Thursday found Raul Arce Jimenez and Shawn Birchfield-Finn Jimenez guilty in the toppling of the University of North Carolina monument nicknamed "Silent Sam." They also were assessed a $500 fine and community service.

Jimenez was previously found not guilty of toppling a Confederate statue in Durham in 2017.

Past coverage on Silent Sam:

• Athletes petition against $5M building on UNC campus to house Silent Sam statue
• Deadline extended for UNC officials' plan for 'Silent Sam'
• Protesters topple Confederate statue 'Silent Sam' on UNC campus
• Protesters topple Confederate statue 'Silent Sam' on UNC campus
• Hundreds protest on UNC campus against 'Silent Sam' Confederate statue
• UNC students protest 'Silent Sam' Confederate statue
• UNC at Chapel Hill could be sued over Confederate statue

Eleven others have been convicted in the August melee in which the Chapel Hill statue was toppled. The monument was derided as a symbol of white supremacy and defended as a Southern heritage memorial.

Associated Press