Va. Man Convicted for Hanging a Noose Is Jailed Again for Sign in Yard

A Rocky Mount, Va., man who is facing sentencing after being convicted for hanging a noose in his front yard has landed himself back in jail after replacing the noose with a racially charged sign, the Roanoke Times reports.

According to the report, during a September trial, 52-year-old Jack Eugene Turner was found guilty of violating a state law that prohibits hanging a noose to indimidate someone, a felony that carries penalties that can include up to five years in prison and fines of $2,500. 

Turner was allowed to go free on bond under the condition that he not post any further controversial symbols or messages in his yard.

On Tuesday, however, Turner was arrested once more after he put up a sign reading, “[N—ger] lives don’t matter. Got rope?”

“It looked like a piece of cardboard box,” Franklin County Sheriff’s Capt. Paul Caldwell told the Roanoke Times. 

Turner was first arrested back in June after he used a piece of rope to hang a dark, life-sized dummy from a tree. Witnesses said that the dummy was put up in response to an ongoing dispute with neighbors, who are black. Those neighbors testified that Turner sent them strange notes and offten made rude gestures at them and their relatives. 

Turner reportedly initially said that the dummy was a scarecrow, before admitting that it was meant to scare people. 

“He stated that he was a racist and he did like black people but did not like n—gers,” Caldwell told the court. 

Read more at the Roanoke Times.