By Alabama Public Radio
Birmingham, AL – The three men accused of burning nine rural Alabama churches were taken to the federal court building in downtown Birmingham this morning. They were being held at the Shelby County Jail in Columbiana. Benjamin Nathan Moseley, Russell Lee DeBusk Junior and Matthew Lee Cloyd are scheduled to go before a U-S Magistrate judge this afternoon at three o'clock. Their first court appearance was scheduled for last Friday but defense lawyers requested the delay. The three men are currently charged with conspiracy and setting fire to just one church -- Ashby Baptist in Bibb County. It was one of five in Bibb County and four others in Pickens, Greene and Sumter counties the men are suspected of burning on February third and February seventh, respectively. A tenth rural Baptist church was burned in the Lamar County town of Millport. That also has been ruled arson but investigators believe it was not connected to the other fires.