Six men sued for northwest Georgia cross-burning

<p>Six men who admitted to burning a cross in the yard of a woman whose daughter was romantically involved with a black man have been sued by the residents where the cross burning took place, attorneys said Monday.</p><p>John Armstead and Amanda Hurst seek unspecified damages in a federal lawsuit, according to a statement by attorneys Bill Speek of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Andrew Lampros of Atlanta.</p><p>The suit alleges the men _ Jerrell Garner Jr., Stacy Jones, Steven Jones, Jeremy Sims, Eric Sullivan and Billy Wells, all of Trenton _ conspired to terrorize, injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate the couple on account of race, the attorneys said.</p><p>The six men pleaded guilty last month to civil rights violations after they admitted to the cross burning. They will be sentenced May 7. They each face up to 20 years in federal prison.</p><p>According to the indictment, Sims and the Jones brothers made the cross and placed it at the foot of Hursts driveway. They lit the cross and left, then worried that the flames might spread to a nearby tinder-dry forest, so Sullivan called 911.</p>

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