Charges dropped against men involved in Lake Monroe confrontation
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) — A judge on Thursday dismissed all criminal charges against three men in the violent confrontation near Lake Monroe on July 4, 2020.
The charges against Vauhxx Booker, Sean Purdy, and Jerry Cox II were dropped at the request of special prosecutor Sonia Leerkamp.
Leerkamp says the three men have completed the Restorative Justice process, an alternative to traditional judicial proceedings.
It’s the first time the process has been used in Indiana.
“This case embodies so much of what is happening in our country today,” Leerkamp wrote in her report to the court. “Going into a courtroom and ‘duking it out’ in front of a jury does not seem to me to be an ideal forum for having people examine their words and actions with a view to reconciling anger and hate.”
The three each faced charges that included battery for the racially-charged confrontation, which was captured on a cell phone camera and garnered national attention.
Booker had called the incident an ‘attempted lynching’.
Each defendant was required to write a statement about what they learned through the Restorative Justice process.
“Although I did nothing legally wrong, and only reacted as any person would when their loved one was being aggressively confronted by a larger man, I now have a much different perspective as to the whole situation and I have taken full responsibility for my actions,” Purdy wrote in his letter. “At the time, I viewed the Confederate flag as an American symbol of the South like on the Dukes of Hazzard, which I watched as a kid. I had no intention of offending anyone.”
Purdy also told the court the process “has brought to light that the Confederate flag is a racially-charged symbol” and he “will not participate in racially-charged actions.”
Cox told the court he wishes he could go back and changes his actions and the actions of others that day.
“Actions and words that come from anger is not the way to conduct yourself. And it has a long-lasting effect on you, the other person, and the people that care about you and the other person,” Cox wrote. “I will be better.”
In his letter to the court, Booker wrote:
“I refuse to be defined by the darkest things done to me. Instead, I choose to believe and labor towards a more just humanity and a brighter tomorrow. We must learn to address behaviors rather than merely labeling people by them. We must create spaces where individuals who err can encounter correction without shame or punitive measures.”
Leerkamp also praised the potential success for Restorative Justice in Indiana but also raised questions about some current limitations, including costs and availability.
“In this particular case, the results were disappointing in that it did not result in a face-to-face meeting between the parties,” Leerkamp wrote. “There were reasons why this did not occur in this case, but I believe that to be an important component to a successful completion of a restorative justice process.”
The FBI announced in July 2020 that it was investigating the incident as a possible hate crime. Federal authorities have not publicly announced the outcome of their investigation.