The Maury County Criminal Circuit Court sentenced Santa Fe man Daniel Walls to three years jailtime this week in connection to his involvement in posting racist flyers on Black churches in Columbia in July 2023.
Walls, 39, pleaded guilty on four counts of civil rights intimidation Tuesday. In addition to his three-year sentence, Walls will also be given six years of probation.
Circuit Judge David Allen, 22nd Judicial District, presided over the hearing.
More: Columbia faith leaders, community band together following hate flyer left at Black churches
Walls’ arrest and charges initially stemmed from the incident last year, in which flyers associated with the “Old Glory Knights of the Ku Klux Klan” were discovered on the doors of Faith United Missionary Baptist Church, Bethel Chapel AME Church and Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, all in Columbia.
“It’s unfortunate, but when things like this happen you have to send a clear signal to anyone who may want to do the same thing. Hate is just not going to be tolerated in any fashion, and so I think the sentence was fair and just for what took place,” Pastor Kenny Anderson of Mt. Calvary said.
Footage obtained by the Columbia Police Department last year also showed images of a male individual placing an additional flyer on the side of Muletown Pizza’s food truck.
Following the initial reports, Anderson, along with members of Columbia police, citizens, as well as city and county leaders gathered together at Mt. Calvary with the message that this kind of behavior would not be tolerated. Or rather, that the community would face it with love and support, not hate.
More: Columbia police charge adult male, youth for ‘hate’ flyers distributed at 3 black churches
“We came together in unity, love and oneness. We came together against anyone who wants to bring racism and hate to our city,” Anderson said. “Love can always outweigh hate and will always be victorious in any matter such as this.”
At the time of Walls’ arrest, a 17-year-old white male was also arrested in connection with the incident but was not identified.
District Attorney Brent Cooper issued a statement Tuesday regarding the verdict.
“I hope the sentence handed down today to Mr. Walls serves two purposes. One, it makes the minority community feel safer and, two, it sends the message to those like-minded with Mr. Walls that this type of intimidation will not be tolerated in our community,” Cooper said.
Jay Powell is a general reporter for The Daily Herald. Get up-to-date news in your inbox by subscribing to The Daily Herald newsletter at www.ColumbiaDailyHerald.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Man sentenced to three years for placing KKK flyers on Black churches
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