Louisiana man wants to move trial from nearby rebel monument

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A black man has asked a Louisiana appeals court to move his trial from a courthouse with a Confederate statue outside.

The Advocate reported an attorney for 39-year-old Ronnie Anderson of Plaquemine has asked an appeals court to move the weapons violation trial from the East Feliciana Parish Courthouse in Clinton. There is a 30-foot (9-meter) high Confederate statue outside the building.

Anderson faced the weapons charge after a 2017 traffic stop.

A district court judge in November rejected Anderson’s request to move the trial because of the monument. His attorney, Niles Haymer, said the monument is intimidating and a reminder of the way African Americans were treated during slavery and the Jim Crow Era of racial discrimination.

Haymer is also asking that the charge be dismissed.

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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com