Tyler

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

A 19-year-old Lindale man was sentenced Monday to nine months in prison for vandalizing a city cemetery.

Justin Hillard-Kennedy pleaded guilty to criminal mischief - a misdemeanor enhanced to a state jail felony because it was the Lindale City Cemetery that was destroyed. He was sentenced by 7th District Judge Kerry Russell and ordered to pay $1,320 in restitution to the city of Lindale.

Hillard-Kennedy was arrested along with David Charles Bitter, 22, and Jeffery David James, 22, both of Lindale, for vandalizing the cemetery on June 18, 2006.

About 40 headstones in the city cemetery had either been turned over or destroyed, authorities said.

Hillard-Kennedy, represented by Brett Harrison, entered into a plea agreement with the state. He had faced probation or six months to two years in jail.

During an earlier hearing, James' attorney, O.W. Loyd, said James and a co-defendant were stopped by police on an unrelated matter and when asked if they knew anything about the cemetery vandalism, James confessed to authorities.

On June 18, 2006, James and the others were celebrating his 21st birthday by drinking alcohol when they vandalized the cemetery.

Assistant Smith County District Attorney Amanda Dillon said the men destroyed many graves and caused extensive damage to the Lindale cemetery, defacing the graves of veterans, children and others - some graves were more than 70 and 80 years old.

Bitter and James earlier pleaded guilty to criminal mischief. Bitter was sentenced to one year in a state jail facility, and James was sentenced to nine months.