Murder may be hate crime

[kweerwolf]

From the Grand Junction (Colo.) Daily Sentinel:

Murder charges against two men accused of killing an openly gay Montrose man were upgraded Friday from second-degree to first-degree homicide, but a Denver gay rights group is calling for District Attorney Tom Raynes to file hate crime charges in the case.

<snip>

Assistant District Attorney Mark Adams filed first-degree murder charges Friday against Jason Fiske, 24, and Adam Hernandez, 21, both of Montrose, accused of pre-meditated murder in the July 30 death of Kevin Hale, 36, whose body was found in Buckley Park at North Third and Nevada.

<snip>

In the police affidavit for the arrest of Hernandez, Fiske told Montrose Police Detective Justin Perry that, during the evening that preceded Hale’s death, Hernandez twice accused Hale of trying to “molest” him.


“The accusations about he was making sexual advances, those are not necessarily accurate,” Skolnik said. “We haven’t heard any confirmation of that actually being the case, that he actually came on to anyone. People knew he was gay and he was harassed based on that, not because he made sexual advances, but just because of the small-town nature of it, everybody knew. People who had anti-gay sentiments or who were homophobic did harass him, physically harass him, verbally harass him, on a number of occasions.


“Perpetrators of anti-gay violence frequently try to justify assault and murder by claiming that the victim made sexual advances,” Skolnik said.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2005/08/08/8_8_1a_gay_murder_WWW.html

More than 100 attacks on gays in New York (according to another discussion) ... arsons against gay men in Florida ... a baseball bat attack on to lesbians here in Kansas City ... two thugs connected to a white supremist group in Chicago assault two girls who wouldn't date them because they were lesbians ... Does it seem like these kind of attacks are becoming more frequent?

Welcome to BushCo's Amerika where bigoted rhetoric from right-wing homophobes and the hate-mongering preached by the religious reich load the guns while they leave it up to dim-witted thugs pull the triggers.

[Gildor Inglorion]

1. I'm afraid we ain't seen nothin' yet...

For once, I'm GLAD I live in Mississippi, where everyone assumes (correctly) that you have a firearm and are willing to defend yourself with it. :grr:

[Alcibiades]

2. Sadly, the real culpability

of the Republicans in this is never really addressed. I wonder--since voter registrations are a matter of public record, would it be too hard for an investigative reporter to go through and find out whether these guys (and other convicted hate criminals) are registered Republicans? Granted, I'm sure most of these little Rohm wannabes aren't registered to vote, but since there are so many of them some of them must be, and I'll bet that most of the ones who declare a party affiliation are Republican.

[kbm8795]

5. I'd be more interested in finding out their

religious affiliation, if they have any - because I'm willing to bet there is a growing connection between the people perpetrating this violence and the religious Reich.

Human sacrifice is an important requirement of wingnut devotions.

[lvx35]

3. What defines a 'hate crime' as such?

I know it has to do with racism or other prejudices, but is it prosecuted differently? I'm curious why the gay rights group wants hate crime charges, first degree homocide sounds pretty serious.

[kweerwolf]

4. Here's the definition of 'hate crimes' ...

as listed on http://www.ou.edu/oupd/hate.htm

A hate crime is targeted criminal activity, usually motivated by prejudice based on perceived personal characteristics of the victims. These motivations may include race, religion, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

When a person is charged with a hate crime it often carries additional penalties/prison time above what a regular murder/assault/etc. charge would carry.

The difference between someone murdered in a "crime of passion," for instance, and a hate crime is that a murder involves one victim while a hate crime is meant to intimidate all members of the targeted group. Lynchings were meant to intimidate blacks just as gay-bashings are meant to intimidate the LGBT community ... the message by the perpetrators is meant to say 'stay in your place,' 'you're not welcome here,' 'this is what we do to your kind,' etc.