DOJ Case Summary: U.S. v. Grassie
During a two-month period in 1998, defendant Walter Gene Grassie vandalized numerous church buildings belonging to the Mormon Church, officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), in various towns in New Mexico. Between May and June, Grassie threw blood-colored paint on the exterior of an LDS church in Roswell; threw paint on the exterior walls and sign of an LDS church in Alamagordo; broke windows, a door, an organ, pianos, and the pulpit at an LDS church in Alto; destroyed the interior of the LDS church in Roswell; and hacked up pews, an organ, pianos, and a gym floor at an LDS church in Artesia. Grassie's attacks on LDS churches culminated on June 28, 1998, when he set fire to the LDS church in Roswell, destroying the building and causing more than 2 million dollars in damage.
An investigation into the arson and desecration of Mormon churches in New Mexico revealed that defendant Grassie had committed the crimes because he believed that the LDS church was responsible for keeping him from being with the woman he loved. For eight years preceding the vandalisms and arson, Grassie had carried on an affair with a married member of the LDS church in Roswell. Grassie and his paramour, Shirlene Jensen, sang together in a professional yodeling group and carried on their affair when they traveled around New Mexico for performances. In January 1998, Jensen confessed the affair to her husband and broke off both her romantic and professional relationships with Grassie. On January 26, 1998, Jensen told Grassie that her Mormon faith did not permit her to continue the affair and that she and her husband would soon be moving to Arizona. Shortly after that conversation, Grassie began harassing the Jensen family by breaking into their home, stealing from them, and vandalizing their home and property.
After several months, beginning in May 1998, Grassie turned his anger toward the Mormon church which he blamed for the break-up. On May 2, 1998, he vandalized the Roswell LDS church for the first time by throwing paint on the exterior. Over the course of the next two months, as Grassie traveled around the state for various yodeling performances, he vandalized churches in the towns he visited. Over time, his vandalisms grew more involved and extensive, until they culminated in late June with the arson of the Roswell church to which Shirlene Jensen and her family belonged.
On October 22, 1998, a federal grand jury returned a 10-count indictment against Grassie, charging him with numerous violations of 18 U.S.C. 247(a)(1) for damaging religious property because of the religious character of that property. Grassie was also charged with a violation of 18 U.S.C. 844(i) for burning a building used in interstate commerce; with a violation of 18 U.S.C. 844(h) for using fire in the commission of a felony; and with a second violation of 18 U.S.C. 844(i) for burning a truck that was used in interstate commerce. The final charge related to a fire Grassie had set ten days prior to the church arson, when Grassie torched a truck belonging to an adult son of the Jensons. Because the son used the truck for a pecan business he helped operate, the arson affected interstate commerce and led to a separate federal charge.
On March 23, 1999, after a three-week trial, a federal jury in Albuquerque, New Mexico, convicted Grassie on all 10 counts. On July 20, 1999, Grassie was sentenced to serve 15 years in prison.