Marines accused of attack on gay Savannah man won't face hate crime charges

[n2doc]

By The Associated Press
The FBI says two U.S. Marines accused of attacking a gay man in Savannah will not be charged with a federal hate crime.

FBI spokesman Stephen Emmett in Savannah said Wednesday the Justice Department ruled out a hate-crime prosecution after reviewing evidence in the June 12 attack on Kieran Daly.

Police found Daly unconscious on a downtown street corner. Witnesses said two Marines got upset when they thought Daly was winking at them. Daly says he tried to walk away and one of the men struck him in back of the head.

Cpl. Keil Joseph Cronauer and Lance Cpl. Christopher Charles Stanzel still face misdemeanor battery charges in state court. They are based at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina.

http://savannahnow.com/latest-news/2010-09-01/marines-accused-attack-gay-savannah-man-wont-face-hate-crime-charges

[LaurenG]

1. One struck him in the back of the head

because they thought he winked at them and they aren't being charged with a hate crime. Except that it is a hate crime...

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. It sure is! What an injustice.

[EXneoCON]

2. Between Fort Stewart in GA and Marine Base in Beaufort SC...

....Savannah can be a pretty testoterone-laden environment on a Saturday night. Gays aren't the only ones in jeopardy.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. Hey, there's no hate crime there.

I'm sure they'd beat up ANYBODY who winked at them - women, children, puppies...

[foxfeet]

4. Oh, those big, butch Marines.

I hope the next woman they hit on bludgeons them about the head and shoulders with the nearest blunt instrument.

[VMI Dem]

6. They must've taken a survey.

:puke:

[KamaAina]

7. IOKIYITM

It's OK If You're In The Military (cf. the prevalence of rape against our own female soldiers overseas, about which nothing gets done, either :grr: )

[COLGATE4]

8. You're absolutely right about that. My daughter was a Navy

Medical Officer in the Gulf region. Told me that the biggest health problems with female servicepeople (officers and enlisted both) at that base were caused by them retaining urine by not going to the head at night for fear of being raped on the way.

[mitchtv]

9. charges will probably be dropped

what they did is semi legal in many parts of the country

[Solly Mack]

10. Do they attack everyone that winks at them then? Certainly they must.

If I'm to believe that bigotry against gay men wasn't a motive then I must also believe that those two PsOS attack everyone that winks at them.