[media-credit name=’BRYAN FAUST/Herald Photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Wearing pressed shirts and ties and accompanied by their attorneys, the two University of Wisconsin students charged with felony hate crimes appeared in Dane County court Monday.

UW freshmen Ben Chamberlain and Mike Riha's status conference was rescheduled for March 13, as the two non-UW students implicated in the incident were not in attendance. Out-of-state students Caleb Moore and Kevin Cochacki will appear in court early March 13 so they can attend the conference later in the afternoon.

John Callaway, Chamberlain's defense attorney, noted that in cases with multiple defendants, the courts usually like to have all parties in attendance together in order to handle the case efficiently.

"It's good to have everyone catch up with each other," Callaway said, adding the new date would allow Moore and Cochacki "to get their initial court appearances out of the way."

In December, Chamberlain, Riha, Moore and Cochacki allegedly vandalized the Ogg Hall residence-hall door of a UW Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender liaison.

According to the police report, the four students allegedly wrote offensive, anti-homosexual comments on the liaison's white dry-erase board, ripped down LGBT posters and spit on his door.

Police charged the students with misdemeanor disorderly conduct and misdemeanor criminal damage to property. But because of the circumstances, the crimes were charged as hate crimes.

According to Callaway, the additional hate-crime charges elevated the criminal damage to property charge from a misdemeanor to a felony offense.

Under Wisconsin law, the four students face a maximum of three years in prison and $20,000 if charged with both criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct as hate crimes.

Though the charges increased the potential penalties his client faces, Callaway said he understood why the hate-crime enhancers were added.

"I don't question the validity of the enhancer based on my understanding of the facts," Callaway said. "But that doesn't mean I agree with all the underlying charges."

Callaway's sentiment is slightly different from the opinion of Bill Ginsberg, Riha's attorney, as expressed in a Feb. 2 article in The Badger Herald.

"When you look at it on face value, these are not prison cases," Bill Ginsberg was quoted as saying. "Turning [this] into a felony I don't think is appropriate."

Though Callaway said no type of plea-bargain deal has been discussed yet, yesterday's court appearance provided the first opportunity for him to speak to the district attorney.

Callaway said the likelihood of the case going to trial is "very slim" but added there was "nothing in this case that makes it more or less likely to go to trial."

With the case continuing to drag on, Callaway added the students are "holding up pretty well," but that they are receiving backlash from many people.

"They'll receive e-mails and voicemails telling them, 'You're scum,'" Callaway said. "They're really vile, both e-mails and voicemails."

Callaway added the hate mail has bothered the students more than any press coverage but that the students are not trying to shift responsibility.

"They're not blaming anybody else," Callaway said.

Ginsberg did not return calls as of press time.

Dean Arthur Strang, attorney for Purdue University freshman Kevin Cochacki, also did not return calls as of press time.