Apparent "hate crime" in Seminole County, Florida

[Dahoss]

I missed it in the article, why is this a hate crime?

[Clip-Clop]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

I missed it in the article, why is this a hate crime?

They didnt keep the car. Just beat the guy for no apparent reason...

[joeydb]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

I missed it in the article, why is this a hate crime?

Still being investigated of course, but the same racial difference exists in the perpetrators vs. the victim. Unless the motivation can be found to be non-racial, there is the possibility of this being a hate crime.

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by joeydb

Still being investigated of course, but the same racial difference exists in the perpetrators vs. the victim. Unless the motivation can be found to be non-racial, there is the possibility of this being a hate crime.

Right, but you labeled it a hate crime. So now everytime a white guy attacks a black guy and vice versa we're just going to label it a hate crime without getting all of the facts?

We're in a lot of trouble as a society...

[Riot]

Joey ... Zimmerman is on tape calling Trayvon, "f.u.c.k.ing coon", and the kid wasn't doing anything but walking down the street while black, let alone beating a victim he dragged out of a car with a hammer.

That is being investigated as a hate crime, as it should be. "F.u.c.k.ing coon" is a racial epithat. It's not being investigated as a hate crime just because the murderer was a different color than his victim.

[joeydb]

Originally Posted by Riot

Joey ... Zimmerman is on tape calling Trayvon, "f.u.c.k.ing coon", and the kid wasn't doing anything but walking down the street while black, let alone beating a victim he dragged out of a car with a hammer.

That is being investigated as a hate crime, as it should be. "F.u.c.k.ing coon" is a racial epithat. It's not being investigated as a hate crime just because the murderer was a different color than his victim.

So without a tape recording, there is no hate crime? What about the point made above, that the car was not the motive for the crime?

We don't know what was said to whom in the case of the hammer beating. If, and I stress IF, the victim was selected because of his race, it is a "hate crime"

Incidentally, I don't think "hate crimes" should be punished any differently. Murder is murder. If Zimmerman killed Martin in cold blood (no self-defense as he has asserted) he should get the sentence comensurate with the crime. If pre-meditated, he could get the death penalty.

Same with this other crime. If they pre-meditated to go after a caucasian violently, and if the victim dies, electric chair time.

[brianwspencer]

Glad they were arrested...since that's how it's actually supposed to work.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by joeydb

So without a tape recording, there is no hate crime?

No. When there are indications of possible racial motive, it's investigated. It's not that difficult. The federal qualifications for meeting "hate crime" is pretty easy.

Incidentally, I don't think "hate crimes" should be punished any differently.

I do. Killing someone because they are gay, or black, or white, or female needs to be punished far differently than murder committed out of passion, or crime.

Originally Posted by Riot

I do. Killing someone because they are gay, or black, or white, or female needs to be punished far differently than murder committed out of passion, or crime.

Slippery slope time, Riot. Aren't we getting into "thought crime" here, and
1st amendment issues?

Take a crime less serious than murder. A graffiti artist gets arrested for defacing a storekeeper's window with his innocuous artwork. Another graffiti artist gets arrested for defacing a like storekeeper's window with the slogan "I HATE QUEERS." The damage is the same, yet you're saying we need to punish the second perp more than the first?


Ocala Mike