On this date in 1998 in an Illinois federal courtroom, Dennis Michael McGiffen, 35, a former Ku Klux Klan leader who quit the white racist hate group because it was not radical enough, of Wood River, Illinois, Wallace Scott Weicherding, a 64-year-old former Illinois prison guard who was fired from his job at the Graham Correction Center in 1993 for distributing Ku Klux Klan literature to prison employees, of Salem, Illinois, and Ralph P. Bock, 27, of Brighton, Illinois, all members at that time of the white racist hate group, The New Order, were formally charged with a planned bank and armored truck robbery to finance the purchase of weapons the group planned to use to attack the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama, and to assassinate the center's co-founder—nationally respected civil rights attorney, Morris Dees. In their report titled "Terrorism in the United States 1998" the FBI reveal the plans of The New Order, which included plans to poison the water supply of a largely African-American municipality and kill an African-American radio talk show host. All three men pleaded guilty to at least one crime. McGiffen was sentenced to 87 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $1,250.00 fine. McGiffen completed his sentence on July 9, 2004. Weicherding was sentenced to 70 months of imprisonment, three years supervised release, and $1,000.00 fine, and he completed his prison sentence on July 11, 2003. Bock was sentenced to two years in prison, two years supervised release, and a $500.00 fine, and he completed his prison sentence on November 22, 1999. A fourth co-conspirator, Glenn Lavelle Lowtharp, 49, was sentenced to 20 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and $2,000.00 fine, and he completed his sentence on June 27, 2003.

On this date in 1999 in Oakland Park, Florida, Jody-Gaye Bailey, 20, a college student and Jamaican immigrant, was fatally shot in the head while in a car with her fiancé by a skinhead, Robert Boltuch, who less than a half-hour prior to the hate-based murder, proclaimed he wanted to "go out and kill a nigger." Boltuch is serving a life sentence in prison in Florida.

On this date in 2004, Joshua Steven Hancock, 22, of Leland, North Carolina, Ricky Chase Hobbs, 22, of Richlands, North Carolina, Jeremy Kratzer, 24, of Maple Hill, North Carolina, and Roston Chance Hobbs, 19, of Richlands, were arrested for their roles in allegedly violating the rights of an African-American family in 1999, through a series of racially motivated acts including hanging a noose on the family’s door, burning a cross on their lawn, and throwing a dead raccoon into their yard all with the purpose of frightening and intimidating the family into moving away from Richlands. Hancock pleaded Guilty on April 26, 2004. Ricky Hobbs and Kratzer were both convicted on July 5, 2005, and they both later lost their appeal for a new trial. Roston Hobbs pleaded Guilty on June 21, 2004, to obstructing a federal criminal investigation for encouraging a witness to provide false information to federal investigators. Joshua Hancock is expected to complete his federal prison sentence in West Virginia on October 21, 2009, Jeremy Kratzer completed his prison term on February 23, 2007, and Ricky Hobbs completed his prison term on April 12, 2007.

On this date in 2008, in Florence, Alabama (Lauderdale County) a 16-year-old male allegedly spray-painted “KKK” and “Nigger” on the side door of the predominantly black New Pisgah A.M.E. Church. A total of two 16-year-olds and two 15-year-olds have been charged with third-degree criminal mischief, which is a misdemeanor, but one of the 16-year-olds could, if convicted, have a sentencing enhancement imposed on him as he is said to have scrawled the hateful graffiti. If convicted, he could receive three months to one year in jail.

In Portland, Oregon on this date in 2009, two white men, Gary Moss, 36, and Devan G. Klausegger, 29, both of Medford, Oregon, pleaded guilty in federal court to burning the shape of a cross and the letters KKK into the front lawn of Jonathan and Sol Whyte. The federal race-based hate crime occurred at the mixed-race couple's home on May 26, 2008. Moss poured a flammable liquid on the front lawn, and Klausegger provided a small explosive device that Moss used to ignite the liquid. Moss and Klausegger admitted that this was done with the intent to interfere with the victims' rights under the Fair Housing Act because Jonathan Whyte is African-American. Both faced a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000; and, sentencing was scheduled for May 5, 2009. However, on June 16, 2009, U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken sentenced Gary Moss to serve 41 months in federal prison, and Devan Klausegger to serve 51 months in prison. Both defendants were also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution to the victims in the amount of $3,107.

In Buffalo, New York, on this date in 2009, a white man, Donald R. Napierala, 41, of South Buffalo, pleaded guilty in State Supreme Court to first-degree attempted reckless endangerment (as a hate crime), and first-degree aggravated harassment, for the July 7, 2008, cross-burning on the lawn of an inter-racial couple, Mario Echevarria (a Hispanic man from Puerto Rico) and Kelly Kohr (who is white). Napierala—who has a lengthy criminal conviction history for criminal possession of a weapon, criminal contempt, disorderly conduct and harassment—is to be sentenced on April 22, 2009. He could receive from three-and-a-half to seven years in prison.