Keith Klingeman, 51, of Naperville, Ill., appeared in court for a bench trial on Dec. 2 for a 2022 incident involving the defacement of three campaign signs for Patty Gustin, a candidate for the DuPage County Board.
Klingeman, who entered a not-guilty plea during his arraignment in February 2023, is charged with two counts of hate crime and one count of property damage for putting swastika stickers on Gustin’s campaign signs. In the past two years, the case has been continued 20 times.
Prosecutors that the defendant’s intentional use of swastika stickers was “more than distasteful” and sought to link Gustin’s “likeness to that of Adolf Hitler.”
Gustin, who is not Jewish, had previously shared publicly that her family is honored at the Holocaust museums in Israel and Washington, D.C.
“I have been proud to share this,” she told Patch following the incident in 2022. “However, it put a target on my back.”
At the hearing, the prosecution played a police video filmed of Klingeman at his home in which he told police that he had placed the swastikas on the campaign signs and cut one of the signs with a knife.
Klingeman also expressed frustration at Gustin’s statements at a Naperville City Council meeting but denied any malevolent intent toward the local politician.
Gustin said in court on Monday that the stickers caused her to feel “numb” and “emotionally drained,” as well as afraid to go out in the community.
Klingeman’s attorney argued, however, that his client was “overcharged,” refuting the hate-crime charges due to the prosecution’s lack of proof of motive. His attorney added that based on the First Amendment, Klingeman’s actions were “political speech” as campaign signs are “part of the marketplace of ideas.”
A verdict will be announced on Dec. 13.
