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, 22 Judicial District, presided over the hearing. 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 .
