Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

CRIME

Judge rescinds appointment of public defender for Black activist in reported racist attack

Vauhxx Booker says he was assaulted, pinned to a tree in Indiana

Associated Press
Published
close
Fox News Flash top headlines for November 15 Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for November 15

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.

A judge has rescinded the appointment of a public defender for a Black activist in Indiana who alleges he was assaulted by a group of White men who threatened to lynch him. 

Johnson Superior Court Judge Lance Hamner initially granted Vauhxx Booker’s request for a public defender earlier this month, but reversed it days later when he got notice of money that Booker raised through a GoFundMe account, according to The Herald-Times. 

In 2020, Booker, a member of the Monroe County Human Rights Commission, posted cellphone video on Facebook that showed part of the altercation. He said he called 911 after the men assaulted him and pinned him to a tree at Lake Monroe, south of Booker’s hometown of Bloomington. He wrote that the men threatened to break his arms and said, "get a noose." 

Vauhxx Booker listens during a press conference after a special prosecutor charged him with felony assault and trespassing over a year after he was attacked in July 2020 at Lake Monroe, at the Monroe County Courthouse in Bloomington, Indiana.

Vauhxx Booker listens during a press conference after a special prosecutor charged him with felony assault and trespassing over a year after he was attacked in July 2020 at Lake Monroe, at the Monroe County Courthouse in Bloomington, Indiana. (Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

RITTENHOUSE FATE ‘IN THE HANDS OF THE JURY,’ NOT BIDEN, MEDIA, ATHLETES: MOTHER 

Two White men were charged with numerous felonies, including intimidation, criminal confinement and battery. Booker was charged earlier this year with battery and criminal trespass after withdrawing from a mediation process to resolve the case. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

Vauhxx Booker spoke during a press conference after a special prosecutor charged him with felony assault and trespassing over a year after he was attacked in July 2020 at Lake Monroe, at the Monroe County Courthouse in Bloomington, Indiana.

Vauhxx Booker spoke during a press conference after a special prosecutor charged him with felony assault and trespassing over a year after he was attacked in July 2020 at Lake Monroe, at the Monroe County Courthouse in Bloomington, Indiana. (Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Booker has called it a hate crime. The FBI has said it is investigating. 

A friend of Booker’s established a GoFundMe campaign to raise money medical costs, attorney fees, counseling and lost work time. The fund had approximately $36,000 in it as of Sunday.