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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A Sandy man charged in connection to the attack of a black man, in what prosecutors describe as a hate crime, has changed his plea.
Today, 20-year-old Robby Wayne Baalman pleaded guilty to one count of interference with a federally protected activity, in this case, traversing a public street. He's one of three men accused in the March attack on George Stephenson.
Authorities say Stephenson was riding his bike to work when Baalman, 25-year-old Keith Wayne Cotter and 43-year-old David Lance Gardner, all whom are white, attacked him.
Today in court, Baalman admitted he attacked Stephenson as part of his initiation into the white supremacist organization, the American Front. He's scheduled to be sentenced on February 28th.
Cotter and Gardner both face trials in January.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
