Canadians accused of U.S. flag prank seek court deal

Criminal charges are expected to be dropped against two Canadian men accused of desecrating an American flag in Southern California following Canada’s Olympic hockey victory last year, their lawyers said Tuesday.

A deal is being worked out that would see the men write a letter of apology and donate a new U.S. flag.

“It is anticipated the case will be dismissed,” Susanne Cho, one of the men’s lawyers, told Postmedia News. “It was obviously a prank, a joke. It was not meant to offend anyone.”

According to court documents, Matthew Seifert and Ryan Smith, both 26, had been drinking heavily while watching the gold medal men’s hockey game between Canada and the U.S. on Feb. 28, 2010 at the Beer Hunter Sports Pub& Grill in La Quinta, California, a resort community about 200 kilometres east of Los Angeles.

They had made a bet with other bar patrons that, if the Canadians won, they would replace a U.S. flag located on a nearby mountain with a Canadian flag.

After the victory, both men climbed the steep, craggy mountain— known as Point Happy — to replace the flag. In the process of doing so, the American flag was torn and left wadded up in a ball with a rock placed on top of it, authorities alleged in court documents.

The flag’s keeper, Mayte Sterling, has said that she put up the flag to commemorate victims of the 9/11 terror attacks. An editorial in the local Desert Sun newspaper called the flag incident “disrespectful, outrageous and downright rude.”

The men’s lawyers insisted Tuesday it was the wind that caused the damage to the flag and that they did not mean to offend anyone.

“This should never have been filed,” said Denise Shaw, the other defence lawyer in the case. “This was celebrating a victory.”

Mr. Seifert and Mr. Smith pleaded not guilty to misdemeanour charges of vandalism and public trampling or mutilation of a flag.

A court hearing that had been scheduled for Tuesday was put over to Jan. 18. A spokesman for the district attorney’s office said he couldn’t comment on the case until then.

Mr. Seifert is from Alberta and Mr. Smith is from Ontario.

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