Suspect in staged hate crime to influence 2023 mayoral race claims now-Mayor Yemi Mobolade was in on it

DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) – The man accused of staging a hate crime to garner support for Yemi Mobolade during his 2023 mayoral campaign shared shocking testimony during a federal trial on Thursday, claiming Mobolade not only knew of the plan but that a state representative was also in on it.

Derrick Bernard and his partner Ashley Blackcloud have been on trial this week at the federal courthouse in downtown Denver. They are accused of burning a wooden cross in front of a Yemi Mobolade campaign sign, defaced with the N-word slur, in order to gain sympathy for the man trying to become the first-elected Black mayor of Colorado Springs.

The trial has centered around whether or not the couple used the internet and interstate commerce to maliciously share misinformation about the staged hate crime.

On Thursday, federal prosecutors called their 13th and final witness to the stand, Special Agent Ethan Doherty from the FBI, who was the lead of the federal investigation.

Doherty answered exhaustive questions on the stand by the United States and through cross-examination, discussing details from text messages and Facebook and Instagram messages sent between Bernard and Blackcloud.

It was revealed that during the FBI's investigation, they had determined the hate crime was a hoax by July of 2023; however, at no point did they convey this to Mobolade or his wife, whom they spoke with during the investigation.

It was only in December 2024 that the FBI reached out to arrange a meeting with now-Mayor Mobolade, who could only find time on January 12.

During that meeting, Agent Doherty says that Mobolade initially avoided discussing certain text messages shared between him and Bernard, and also stated with "120%" certainty that he never spoke with Bernard outside of the means of messaging.

The FBI says that they knew this to not be true based on phone records.

Doherty said it's what led them to believe, based on evidence, that Mobolade may have been criminally withholding information. However, just three days later, Mobolade shared screenshots of his conversations with Bernard and discussed the phone call he had with him.

After Doherty's cross examination, the prosecution rested.

Surprisingly, the defense council told the Judge that they would not be calling any witnesses up to the stand, despite having three people scheduled for Thursday and four on Friday, including Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez.

It was unclear why the defense elected to leave their witnesses alone, though they clarified their defendants would be the last people to take the stand if they chose to do so.

After an hour recess for the jury, Blackcloud stated she would not be speaking, while Bernard said he would take the stand despite his attorney advising against it.

In his testimony, Bernard claimed that he met Mobolade through State Representative Regina English, while she was running for, and later won, her seat in the Capitol.

He says from there he would consistently message with Mobolade in the year leading up to the 2023 mayoral race, and wanted to lend his support to help him win as he believed in his campaign.

Bernard says that during English's campaign, her opponent faced a situation involving their campaign signs and that Bernard believed it was a contributing factor to English winning.

Subsequently, Bernard claimed he, English, and Mobolade all agreed upon the idea of creating some kind of situation to help drum up support for Mobolade's bid for mayor.

Bernard contended in court that he did not know the idea would be a cross burning in front of a defaced sign, but that he was committed to promoting the stunt regardless of what it was, to generate buzz and support for Mobolade.

It's why Bernard vehemently argued that Mobolade knew this act wouldn't have been a threat to him or his family, and even went so far as to say that he was guaranteed by Mobolade that he would not face prosecution should he win the mayor's office.

Bernard said those same guarantees were discussed on a five-minute phone call after the incident.

As far as the charges against he and Blackcloud, Bernard affirmed that the hoax could not be a hate crime or a threatening act, even if Mobolade is a black man, since he knew about it.

Prosecutors eventually cross-examined Bernard, arguing that his goal was to make the hoax a believable threat to outsiders to gain sympathy, and therefore would have had to make it seem real to Mobolade as well, which would fit the charges.

The prosecution also argued that Bernard had texts and messages with Blackcloud both before and after the staged crime was committed, suggesting that he understood exactly what was happening.

One text message from Bernard to a friend of his named 'Ak', reading, "Sitting tight. We put in some work last night." which came the day after the cross burning happened.

The government says that evidence would then contradict Bernard's claim that he didn't known about the burning cross until afterwards, and in fact partook in it himself.

Overall, Bernard often gave neutral responses to many of the prosecutions questions about his whereabouts at certain moments in the timeline of the cross burning, as well as his role in the act, and evidence pointing towards he and Blackcloud's communication about the alleged act.

Bernard would often rifle back questions at the prosecutor himself, questioning his research about the case and about himself, and even at one point stated that "I'm done talking to you" toward the prosecutor. The judge then had to correct Bernard and explain that by going on the stand he did have to answer questions.

It is worth noting, that throughout his testimony Bernard mispronounced Mobolade's last name consistently, as Mobe-laid instead of Mo-ba-la-day.

The U.S attorney's also brought into question the credibility of Bernard's testimony, citing that he could be indifferent to committing perjury on the stand, as he is currently serving a felony sentence of 10 or more years in prison already.

Bernard stated that he was not lying, and it would instead be in his best interest to cooperate.

Eventually the prosecution rested, and the defense did not have any other questions for its defendant, and after a short break the judge delivered the instructions to the jury.

Closing arguments are set for Friday, May 23 at 8 a.m., with jury deliberation to begin afterwards.

Bernard and Blackcloud, as well as another co-defendant named Deanna West who testified this week but was not a part of the duo's trial, all face charges of:

• Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States
• Using instrumentalities of interstate commerce to maliciously convey false information to intimidate someone by means of fire.

Count 1 can carry up to 5 years of imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, or both. It can also carry up to 3 years of supervised release.

Count 2 can mean upwards of 10 years in prison, and no more than a $250,000 fine, or both, with no more than 3 years supervised release as well.

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Stay up to date with the latest local news, sports, and investigations by downloading the KRDO13 app. Click here to download it from the Apple App Store. Android users can download it from Google Play here.