Posted on 09/11/2007 5:09:24 AM PDT by Red in Blue PA
(CNN) -- Six West Virginia residents have been charged with kidnapping, torturing and sexually assaulting a Charleston woman for at least a week, the Logan County Sheriff's Department said Monday.
Sheriff's deputies went Saturday to a Big Creek, West Virginia, residence in response to an anonymous tip that a woman was being held against her will, the department said in a news release.
[snip]
"Deputies found her with two black eyes, part of her hair had been pulled out, she had lacerations on her neck, and she had been physically, mentally and sexually abused," Logan County Sheriff W.E. Hunter said.
The victim was forced to eat rat and dog feces and drink from the toilet, according to the criminal complaint filed in magistrate court, The Associated Press reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
You don't understand the difference between criminal intent and hate crime laws.
Criminal intent is when you meant to break the law... you chose to murder, steal, rape. Criminal intent is a crime even if the ultimate act doesn't occur... RICO, criminal conspiracy, and attempted murder are examples. This is as opposed to something like manslaughter where you didn't have criminal intent but harmed someone anyway.
Hate crime laws take this a leap further and prosecute someone additionally because not only did he intend to commit the crime, he committed it because of his personal biases. If a personal bias isn't a crime without the actual deed, then it isn't a crime even with the deed.
I have mixed feelings about “hate” crimes. As long as there is a double standard regarding them, I object to prosecution as such. But I have no quarrel with someone who harms another only because of their race, religion, ethnicity, etc. having additional charges filed so long as the proecution for the original crime is pursued.
I guess that puts me at risk after the next 9-11 attack when I start offing Muslims. < /sarc >
The only reason “hate crime” law would be needed here is if, by some unlikely event, the laws in the jurisdiction covering kidnapping and torture were ignored and the federal government needed to step in the make sure the guilty are punished.
Wow.
So without an iota of evidence to go on, you are faulting the victim?
Get a rope. Get several, actually.
I hate “hate crimes” ‘cause they are the basis for criminalizing though: “I don’t like gays as a group” or “I oppose the gay agenda in schools” becomes crimes without anybody actually being hurt.
But when it comes to making certain that REAL crimes get punished, with absolute ferocity, I don’t really care so much - use whatever is available...
“But the blacks in Knoxville won’t be charged with a hate crime.”
You beat me to the punch. What is a shame is that the story in Knoxville was far worst and barely got a mention on the national news. I’m sure Jesse and Al are on their way now to West Virginia.
I have a question for all these proponents of this silly “hate crimes” legislation.
Hate is a human emotion. Just like love, jealousy, etc., etc.
Now, if you are going to legislate against one emotion, why not others?
If I kill you out of a jealous rage, is that worse than if I just kill you? If I kill you because I love you, as in the case of a mercy killing, is that better or worse than if I just kill you?
If I just kill you because you are standing there taking up space and using my air, are you not as dead if I kill you because I hate you? If I kill you because I hate you, are you deader than if I kill you because I love you?
When you think this through, it really becomes profoundly stupid.
“Hate Crime” legistlation is an obscene, overt attempt at “thought control” and anyone promoting it should be forced to see a shrink ASAP, because they are truly dangerous people.
Now, I’m sure I’ll get flamed for my “thoughts” about crime.
God gave us discernment in order to know hate when we see it. And someone who commits a crime stemming from hatred usually has no remorse. Only Gods judgment is perfect. Man has to just do the best he can.
Shocking when we see this crap in Iraq but when it happens here, in America, it’s unbelievable.
That’s exactly what I thought when I saw their pictures. There is absolutely no humanity in their eyes. It seems to me that no matter what they look like all the murderers, sadists and serial killers you see in the news have the same cold, dead eyes.
The races of the perps and the victim are irrelevant. What is relevant is that these examples of West Virginia hillbilly outhouse-trash need to ride Ol’ Sparky, and that right soon.
“What is relevant is that these examples of West Virginia hillbilly outhouse-trash need to ride Ol’ Sparky, and that right soon.”
Amen.
As for this case, no matter what happened in Knoxville this woman had nothing to do with it, and the perps should be given the full measure of the law.
Carolyn
Incorrect. It makes no difference if their motivation was hate based on her perceived race, religion, or whatever or whether the motive was just to be cruel for cruelty's sake. Heinous crimes like this may deserve a special classification for their heinousness, but "hate crime" is not the classification. If white people did this to white people, or black people did this to black people, or queer people did this to queer people, it is still every bit as heinous as if members of one "group" did it to members of another "group". That is probably the biggest argument against "hate crimes" legislation: it denies equal protection under the law and establishes special protected classes of people. To suggest that this particular crime should be treated differently if a white person inflicted it on a black person than if a black person inflicted it on a black person is an insult to victims regardless of their race.
My feelings on "hate crimes" are not mixed at all. Hate crimes legislation is completely unconstitutional as it criminalizes thought or speech and denies equal protection under the law. Crimes that are particularly brutal or vicious should have a higher degree of punishment due to their heinousness, but that should be based strictly on the crime itself, not on some perceived motivation of "hate" behind the crime.
So if somebody beat up your kid just because he was in a mood to beat somebody up, and then went out and beat up another kid because that kid was a different race, you would have no problem with the second beating being treated as a more serious crime even if your kid got the worse beating?
Excellent point and post.
The Charleston paper has an interview with the victim’s mother. It seems the victim was taken to Big Creek by acquaintances she thought were friends. They dropped her at Frankie’s place, then left (they haven’t been caught yet). From then on, Frankie and her bunch of merrymen tortured this poor girl purely out of evil and hate of her race. Apparently, the victim suffered from ADD/AHD and was very trusting. She is scarred for life by these animals. I am a native West Virginian and this chills me that there are people like this still living there. Oh, I forgot....the senior Senator from WV was a Grand Kleagle in the KKK. I am ashamed for the entire state.
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