Posted on 06/02/2021 3:58:45 PM PDT by RandFan
A federal grand jury in Billings, Montana, returned an indictment on May 20 charging a Montana man with hate crime and firearm violations for allegedly firing a gun into an individual’s house and threatening the individual with violent, homophobic slurs.
According to court documents, John Russell Howald, 44, of Basin, is charged with violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and with the use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
According to the indictment: On March 22, 2020, in Basin, Howald attempted to injure an individual because of their actual and perceived sexual orientation by discharging a firearm into the individual’s house, stating that he wanted to “get rid of the lesbians [and] gays.” The offense included an attempt to kill the individual.
If convicted, Howald faces up to life in prison on the hate crime charge and a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison, consecutive to any other sentence, on the firearm charge
(Excerpt) Read more at breaking911.com ...
Sure shooting up a house with people inside is pretty bad...but don’t say mean words.
So, I guess it would have been ok to fire into a house of herosexual black people? Or do we need some kind of consequences checklist?
March 2020 and it makes news as Gay Pride month starts 2021?
Just don’t get caught.
Was it a gathering? Doubtful lesbians and gays would be living together much.
Did the FBI commit a hate crime when they got some jihadists to storm the “Draw Mohammed contest” with intent to the kill the organizers?
That was a dumb thing to do. Americans of all persuasions own guns. They could easily have followed him back to his home to return fire.
There’s no such thing as “hate crime” or “hate speech.” Crime is crime, and we either have free speech or we have nothing.
The MSM has finally found a “typical Republican.”
So no, if they are black then still a hate crime.
Yes - but that’s less hate because gays are higher up on the social totem pole.
Last I heard, the homos were higher up the interesectionality pole than blacks. Scissors beats a rock.
Hate is a Motive, it isn’t a Crime.
When is somebody going to challenge these Unconstitutional Thought Crime Laws in a Court of Law, if a true Court of Law actually still exists in this Country?
Something wrong with this guy. Where is murdering one house of homosexuals rid the world forever of homosexuals.
However, it does rid the house of a neighbor who is now going to go to prison and have a lot of homosexual neighbors.
Always yell “I LOVE YOU!” before pulling the trigger.
Any witnesses to this?
Sorry, but I don’t understand why people here are defending this guy. Shooting into anybody’s home is wrong, wrong, wrong.
Murderers get less.
As a juror I’d *never* vote guilty on any hate crime charge. If the guy fired into an occupied structure...without good reason...I’d vote guilty on something. But not a “hate crime”.
He is only 44 years old. With good behavior, he will be out of prison right after his 99th birthday.
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