"I figured it was going to be a white guy between 25 and 55 because they’re the root of most evil."
- Ann Rhodes, University of Iowa
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| Ann Rhodes |
Archive link: http://archive.vn/fxqiM
The Dental School Case:
For a three-week period in March and April of 2000, the University of Iowa was terrorized by an anonymous e-mailer making a pattern of threats against minority students. Although a single student was eventually arrested for the events, it took time and innovation since the e-mailer used no less than three fictious accounts and names.
A. The Threats:
On Tuesday, March 28, 2000 the first email was sent out. The Dean of the College of Dentistry, David Johnsen, and three faculty members received the email. The e-mail demanded that the school get rid of its minority students and threatened bomb violence, as possible forms of action if it did not within three days if nothing happened. “The e-mail said the dental school was a random place to start and that the group will try to rid all minorities – with blacks going first – from the UI.” The e-mail was sent from the e-mail address “minoirtyrid@excite.com” [sic]. The Excite.com address was registered to an Iowa City male.
On Thursday, March 30, 2000 the second email was sent from “minoritygetout@excite.com.” This time eight College of Dentistry students, all minorities, received the email. It continued threats of violence and threatened the use of gun violence against students, and that the students and their families should fear for their lives. It also said that the person or people sending the e-mail would be responsible for any vandalism to the cars of the minority students and advised them to stay home from school.
“According to the Excite.com Webpage, neither of the two accounts were active as of Sunday afternoon. The [alleged] groups sending the e-mail goes by four names – Minorityout, Minoritygetout, Minorityrid Committee and the Committee of Minority Flight – but Rhodes said she thought one person was probably responsible for the threats. Rhodes said the e-mails were consistent in nature and did not appear to be the work of a national group because they were unorganized and poorly written. Investigators determined that the first e-mail posed no ‘credible’ threats to the students, but the second seemed to be more directly aimed, Rhodes said.”
On Tuesday, April 4, 2000, Kurt Holmes, an African-American Dental School student discovered outside of his apartment at 2425 Bartelt Road, Apt. #2B in Iowa City a package. In the package was a quantity of noodles dyed red along with a note which read “Dead Black Man’s Brains.”
On Thursday, April 6, 2000, a coat caught fire in the Dental School. The fire broke out just before 10 AM, when a coat apparently was ignited by a Bunsen burner, said Steve Parrott, the director of university relations. The fire was put out by a dental student who used a fire extinguisher, and nobody was injury, Parrott said. The Iowa City Fire Department responded to an alarm, but the fire had already been put out by the time firefighters got there, he said.” According to one fourth-year dental student, “a lab coat catching on fire in the dental lab is not uncommon – in fact, it happens at least once a year. What’s unusual, she said, is that nobody was wearing the coat.” Authorities quickly discovered just how unusual the incident was when a third email later that day claimed responsibility for setting the coat ablaze. It asked, “Are you going to take us seriously now?”
After two weeks of this Tuesday-Thursday pattern of threats, an impromptu rally was held on the University of Iowa campus, “Walk the Walk.” Approximately 1,000 students marched beside President Mary Sue Coleman, Mayor Ernie Lehman made the 15-minute hike from the Pentacrest to the Dental School for a rally at approximately 11:45 A.M. “The crowd held several signs that denounced racism and shouted chants such as, ‘Hey hey, ho ho, racism has got to go,’ and ‘if you talk the talk, walk the walk.’”
A fourth and final email was sent on Tuesday, April 18, 2000. The e-mail originated from the address “BOMBSQUAD52244@yahoo.com” and was signed “mejones.” “At approximately 1:20 PM, an undisclosed number of students and administrators within the dental school, none of whom were minorities, received the message, said Ann Rhodes, the UI vice president for university relations.” This time the email was more explicit and included a bomb threat against the school. The e-mail reportedly stated, “We want you to come out and protest, but everyday you should say goodbye to your family and loved ones. Let the war begin.” The threat was issued with a window of Wednesday, April 19, 2000 through Friday, April 21, 2000. “The account registered for the address on the Yahoo! Web site – bombsquad52244 – identifies the user only as male and was last updated on Tuesday.”
As a result of this e-mail, the Dental School closed its doors Tuesday evening and canceled classes for Wednesday while the building was searched for a possible bomb until 6:30 A.M. Thursday. “This was the first building closing due to a bomb threat, said Steve Parrott, the UI director of university relations [and] this was the UI’s first closure of a building in more than 30 years, during the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations.” “Approximately 30 members of bomb squads from Johnson and Linn counties, Marion Township the state Fire Marshal’s Office and UI public safety conducted an ‘extreme and thorough’ investigation of every locker and office in the building.” All locks to the building were also changed, and administrators had to determine who got new keys. Reopening only the third-level entry door, with increased security precautions and two security guards, students were searched upon entering. Officials opted not to use a metal detector.
B. The Sting:
“The threats received a tremendous amount of publicity in the local media, and university officials were under added pressure to find the culprit.” Charles D. Green, Director of Public Safety for the 28,000 student university, said “his officers used a combination of old-fashioned police investigative techniques and 21st century cyber sleuthing to nab Claiborne.”
“Although cyber-crime is new, basic tracking techniques used to combat it haven’t changed since the Internet’s inception, said Doug Jones, a UI Associate professor of computer science. The first step is to examine the message’s header in its entirety, he said. The 15-20 lines of delivery information in the header is the most important because this is where the e-mail’s forwarding agents are identified, Jones said.”
“Next, by examining the message’s path, investigators can identify the Internet service provider. Authorities then determine information about the sender by working with the service provider, which is usually very cooperative, Jones said. ‘They don’t want to be seen as a shelter for abusive use,’ he said. Online e-mail services, such as Excite.com in the Claiborne case, are also involved in the process. Once the companies have been altered, they help track the alleged Internet criminal when he or she logs on.”
“Authorities were able to determine Claiborne’s identity by working with Excite.com to pinpoint the origin of the e-mails sent from the addresses ‘minoirtyrid@excite.com’ and ‘minoritygetout@excite.com.’ Once the e-mail activity was tracked back to the computers in the UI’s Pathology Learning Center Instructional Technology Center, [approximately three blocks from the Dental Sciences Building], authorities placed the site under surveillance.” “Claiborne was seen on videotape leaving the ITC, Rhodes said. A member of the dental faculty identified Claiborne on the surveillance video Wednesday, she said.”
According to Sgt. Duane Papke of UI Public Safety, with the rise of internet crime authorities have been forced to go about investigations in a different way. “It’s a completely new ball game. Its definitely something that we will be dealing with more on a daily basis in the future, so we need to be prepared.”
C. The Arrest:
Three weeks after the first email was received, the suspect was caught. Police reports indicate that Tarsha Michelle Claiborne was arrested at her apartment, 2427 Bartelt Road, Apt. 2A, at 12:20 A.M. on Thursday, April 20, 2000. Claiborne, who is a native of Baton Rouge, La., has a Bachelor of Science degree from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1998. Apparently a talented piano and violin player, “U of I officials said there was no evidence that she was having trouble academically or had been under any undue stress since coming to Iowa City.” As a second year dental student, she is one just of 13 black students in the entire dental school. She was charged with “six counts of third-degree harassment, criminal trespass elevated to hate-crime status and threats in violation of individual rights.” “While Claiborne has allegedly admitted to sending the e-mails, the investigation continue[d].”
Armed with a search warrant, “more than 40 items relevant as evidence in the criminal prosecution were recovered during the search of Claiborne’s car and apartment, including lists of the names of dental school victims and others, according to court documents. Officials also confiscated issues of the Daily Iowan found in her car and apartment that covered the recent threats. One of the issues recovered, the Nov. 29, [1999] issue, includes an article about the low number of hate crimes in Iowa.” Police Sgt. Bill Campbell also said they “found ramen noodles, red dye, [and] paper matching the handwritten note” that said ‘Dead Black Man’s Brains’ which was left on the doorstep of a third-year minority dental student, whom Claiborne knew and who lived in an adjacent building. “Authorities also seized computer equipment and information related to the e-mail victims from the apartment, Campbell said. There were no weapons or explosives found inside Claiborne’s apartment, he said.”
Claiborne was initially only charged with two counts in connection with the threats. The first charge was specifically related to the last email which shut down the school because it contained a bomb threat. It read:
Count I: Threats – Violation of Individual Rights – “The said Tarsha Michelle Claiborne on or about the 18th day of April, A.D., 2000, in the County of Johnson, State of Iowa, did threaten to place, or attempt to place, any incendiary or explosive device or material, or any destructive substance or device in any place where it will endanger persons or property, committed against a person because of the person’s race, color, ancestry, national origin or because of the person's association with other persons of a certain race, color, ancestry or national origin, to-wit: the Defendant sent a bomb threat by electronic mail to facility [sic], staff and students of the University of Iowa College of Dentistry which e-mail continued earlier e-mails, specifically targeting minority students as targets of hate and injury, in violation of Section(s) 712.8, 719.9 and 729A.2 of the Iowa Code.”
The second charge dealt with the physical action that Claiborne allegedly took by placing a package of noodles and the “Dead Black Man’s Brains” note outside the apartment of a fellow minority student. It read:
Count II: Trespass – Violation of Individual Rights – “The said Tarsha Michelle Claiborne on or about the 4th day of April, A.D., 2000, in the County of Johnson, State of Iowa, did enter upon property without the express permission of the owner, lessee or person in lawful possession, with the intent to commit a public offense, harass, or place thereon or therein anything animate or inanimate, or for the purpose, or with the effect of unduly interfering with, the lawful use of the property by others, committed against a person because of the person’s race, color, ancestry or national origin, to-wit: the Defendant went on the property at 2425 Bartelt Road in Iowa City, Iowa, and placed a quantity of noodles dyed red and a note stating “Dead Black Man’s Brains,” which address was occupied by an African-American male, in violation of Section(s) 716.(1) and/or 716.8(c) and 729A.2 of Iowa Code.”
A third count was added for Claiborne’s allegedly setting a lab coat on fire in the Dental School. It read:
Count III: Reckless Use of Fire – “The said Tarsha Michelle Claiborne on or about the 18th day of April, A.D., 2000, in the County of Johnson, State of Iowa, did use fire or any incendiary material so as to recklessly endanger the property of [sic] safety of another, to-wit: the Defendant did place a coat on or in immediately [sic] proximity to a Bunson [sic] burner in Room N208 of the University of Iowa College of Dentistry, in violation of Section(s) 712.5 of Iowa Code.”
Claiborne was also charged later with Possession of a Schedule I Controlled Substance after police found a small amount of marijuana in her apartment when it was searched.
D. Post-Arrest:
· Ann Rhodes Comment:
“There is a saying in journalism circles that good reporters ‘Never Assume.’ … The University of Iowa was rocked when the suspect turned out to be Tarsha Claiborne. … But then the improbable became the incredible. And the result has been that a bizarre hate crime case has been eclipsed by an example of more subtle bias.”
At a press conference held on April 20, 2000 to discuss the arrest, a reporter asked Ann Rhodes, Vice President of University Relations, if she was surprised the person arrested was a black female dental student. Rhodes replied, “I figured it was going to be a white guy between 25 and 55 because they’re the root of most evil.” This comment quickly became a story in itself. “Several hours after Rhodes’ comment, the Office of University Relations issued an official apology from Rhodes for the statement she called a ‘poor attempt at humor.’”
In response to the comment, “more than 300 negative phone calls and e-mails [were] logged with the school following Rhodes’ comments.” In addition to negative publicity, the California-based European American Issues Forum President Louis Calabro filed a complaint with the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights against the UI for Rhodes’ comment on April 27, 2000. That complaint was dismissed on June 9, 2000. Nonetheless, Rhodes stepped down from her position effective July 1, 2000.
Meanwhile, President Mary Sue Coleman had issued her own statement directed to the entire University of Iowa Community in an email on April 21, 2000. In it she stated that:
Yesterday’s arrest in connection with threats against minority students in the College of Dentistry has brought a measure of relief, tinged with sadness and confusion. One thing is clear: we still have much work to do to rebuild trust and regain our sense of common purpose. I want to assure all persons on campus that you are valued members or our community, both individually and collectively. Each of you has earned your place here on the basis of your individual merits. No person’s credibility, now or in the future, should be compromised by this unfortunate incident. Instead, let us take it as a wake-up call that reminds us that we should judge each other as individuals, by the content of our character. And now I hope we can move forward, in accordance with our core values, to ‘encounter each other in a spirit of cooperation, openness, and mutual respect, to form a richly diverse and intellectually stimulating community.’
(Emphasis added). The same anger that was raised against Rhodes’ comment could have easily been asserted against President Coleman herself. The question never answered is why the arrest is “tinged with sadness and confusion” if the race of the pre-arrest alleged perpetrator wasn’t a factor?
· Psychiatric Assessment and Bail:
A personal signature bond was set at $53,500 for Claiborne and although defense attorneys asked the judge to reduce it, their motion was denied. With court approval, Claiborne was evaluated in the Johnson County Jail by Dr. E. Enekwechi of the University Counseling Service (UCS) on April 28, 2000. Dr. Enekwechi diagnosed Claiborne with Major Depressive Disorder (severe) “causing disabling physical and psychological symptoms.” Claiborne was transferred to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) for psychiatric evaluation on May 2, 2000. Claiborne finally posted bond on May 17, 2000 and was released from the UIHC to return to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to live with her mother, Lillie Addison Claiborne, pending trial. The court ordered Claiborne “not to initiate personal contact in any form with the University of Iowa College of Dentistry or its faculty, staff and students.”
· Not Guilty Plea:
On June 15, 2000 defense attorneys for Claiborne filed a written plea of not guilty in lieu of a court appearance while Claiborne was staying in her hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
· Diminished Capacity defense:
Many people wondered what excuse the accused might have for making the various threats, but according to Andrea Herbster, a UI law student, “I would certainly not excuse her actions because of the stress of graduate school. These actions go way beyond stress but may have exacerbated her feelings and made her more willing to act out her emotions.” Instead, Claiborne’s attorneys felt that the stress of her father’s death due to cancer a year earlier could be the source of a possible defense.
On July 10, 2000, Claiborne’s attorneys announced their defense. “Claiborne’s attorneys were required to file a notice [under Iowa Rule of Criminal Procedure 10(11)(b)(1)] saying they would use the diminished-responsibility defense before her trials, but Leon Spies declined to comment on why the defense was chosen or how the attorneys will use it.” “Diminished responsibility differs from a claim of insanity in that it cannot be used as an entire criminal defense, Spies says. It can affect only certain elements of the defense, he says. Diminished responsibility can also result in a conviction of a crime or degree of crime less serious than originally charged.”
“Insanity defense claims the defendant was incapable of distinguishing right from wrong because of a mental illness of some kind, Spies said. Claiborne’s defense of diminished-responsibility claims that she had a limited capacity to think about the nature of her actions, Spies said.” “He declined to comment on other defenses considered and Claiborne’s involvement in the decision-making process.”
“A diminished-responsibility defense is not unusual, but the opportunity to use it does not come up very often, Iowa City attorney Randy Larson said. It can help convince the jury that the defendant was not completely aware of the nature of her or his actions, Larson said. At the UIHC, Claiborne was diagnosed with depression. Johnson County Attorney J. Patrick White declined to comment on how the new defense will affect the prosecution’s approach to the case.” However, as determined from the Judge’s canceling of the scheduled March 5, 2001 trial, a plea agreement was apparently agreed upon.
· Drug Charges & Plea:
Upon searching Claiborne’s apartment police discovered an undisclosed amount of marijuana. Claiborne returned to Iowa to face the separate drug charges stemming from her arrest and pleaded guilty in November, 2000 to possession of a schedule I controlled substance. She faces a sentencing/plea hearing on May 3, 2001.
E. Sentencing:
Currently Claiborne is set to enter a guilty plea on the remaining charges and be sentenced on May 3, 2001. Claiborne could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $10,000 for Count I, a Class C felony; up to 1 year in prison and a fine of $1,500 for Count II, a Serious Misdemeanor; and up to 30 days in jail and a fine of $500 for Count III, which included 6 emails, a Simple Misdemeanor. The Judge could order that her sentence, potentially totaling 11 years, 6 months and a fine of $14,500 be carried out consecutively (meaning 11 years, 6 months) or concurrently (meaning at most 10 years). Parole may or may not be available.
That was an article from 2000-2001 about the case, archive link at the top of the page.
From what I can see in the Iowa Court Search, Tarsha was sent back to Louisiana, and only the marijuana charged was adjudicated. All her harassment charges about the emails were dismissed.
In other words, yet another case of BLACK PRIVILEGE.
It helps to have Alfredo Parrish on your legal team.
"I figured it was going to be a white guy between 25 and 55 because they’re the root of most evil."
- Ann Rhodes, University of Iowa
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| Ann Rhodes |
Ann Rhodes, still at Iowa, making $181,000 a year.
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