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 ...
I don’t think anyone is defending the guy. People don’t like the hate crime aspect because it is unclear that’s an important aspect of crime control, and difficult to prosecute and adjudicate fairly. I’m find with sending this guy up the river for a long, long time on attempted murder charges. Why is more needed?
Have any of those perverts ever been charged with a hate crime for trashing a Catholic church?
“James Byrd Jr. was an African-American man who was murdered by three white supremacists in Jasper, Texas, on June 7, 1998. Shawn Berry, Lawrence Brewer, and John King dragged him for three miles behind a pickup truck along an asphalt road.”
And note that two of those people were executed, while the third gets to live because he sang, but will never leave jail.
...and all that punishment happened WITHOUT a hate crimes bill being law.
So I wonder what problem were they trying to solve with the new laws?
And,, in a semi-related story...
MOSES LAKE, Wash. - A bizarre video has gone viral that shows a boat erupting into flames and sinking on Moses Lake after its occupants harassed another boat that was displaying a Pride Flag. The video then shows the occupants of the Pride flag boat rescuing the boaters who had harassed them.
No, it wouldn’t be OK, but keep your mouth shut and you’d only get 10 years.
...and all that punishment happened WITHOUT a hate crimes bill being law.
I assume you mean at the time. Since the person with whom I had responded to was talking about a present day scenario, I was telling him that one would be prosecuted due to the skin color referenced.
Personally I abhor hate crime charges. Because the crime is heinous enough to mete out the most dire of sentences.
Depends upon the prosecutor handling the case.
Yea, I just like to bring up the way they were punished, without the stupid laws. After all, what more can anyone ask?
Whatever gets him more time is fine with me.
Penalties should be harsher for something like this…and as for the hate crime aspect, what they need to do is apply it equally, even in the case of protected ethnic groups attacking the less protected.
I see less defending of the guy than finding ways to highlight the absurdity of hate crime legislation.
That’s a good story.
I wonder if what the back story is on this incident? How did the suspect know it was a “gay house?” Any run-ins with the residents preciously?
We’ll never know with the Gaystapo in charge of media.
I wonder if what the back story is on this incident? How did the suspect know it was a “gay house?” Any run-ins with the residents preciously?
We’ll never know with the Gaystapo in charge of media.
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