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Miranda Prather

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Miranda Prather is an American woman who gained national attention in July 1997 after police accused her of faking a hate crime. A lesbian, Prather was a graduate assistant and president of the campus gay and lesbian support group at Eastern New Mexico University.

1 The hoax
2 Trial
3 See also
4 Notes
5 External links

The hoax

Early in 1997, posters began appearing around campus that read: "Are you sick of queers polluting this great land with there [sic] filth? I thought so. Want to do something? Join the Fist of God. With his might, we can ride [sic] the world of there [sic] sickness. Ask around. We'll find you. Take us seriously, or we'll begin executing one queer a week following this list." The poster listed eight male and female graduate students and professors and accused them of being gay. Miranda Prather's name was at the top of the list. ^[1] Threatening emails were sent to all on the list. Prather was then allegedly attacked in her home by a masked, knife-wielding assailant who slashed her cheek before running away. ^[1] As homosexual rights groups began to protest the attacks, police investigated. A surveillance tape from a laundromat where one of the posters first appeared seemed to solve the case: the person placing signs was Prather. A search warrant was executed on her home where police found a knife consistent with the one used in the attack. ^[1] She was arrested and charged with seven counts of harassment and one charge of tampering with evidence, which she vehemently denied. She claimed that a woman named "Jessica Forrester" who looked just like her and was obsessed with her was the true culprit behind the crimes. Prather claimed Forrester forced her to circulate the posters, and suggested Forrester got plastic surgery to make herself look just like her. Police were unable to find anyone by that name or description. ^[1]

Trial

Prather went to trial in March of 1998, but the case quickly ended in a mistrial on the second day after Charles Plath, Prather's public defender announced he had been misled by his client and he could not properly defend her. ^[2] On 18 August, 1999, before a second trial was set to begin, Prather pleaded guilty to three counts of harassment and was sentenced by State District Judge Robert C. Brack of Clovis to three years' probation. The court allowed her to return to Maryland where her parents resided. ^[3]

Notes

^ ^a Described in the Amarillo Globe News story of July 29, and in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal story of July 24.
^ Described in the Amarillo Globe News story of 20 March 1998
^ Described in the Amarillo Globe News story of 19 August 1999