Posted on 06/02/2019 11:15:21 AM PDT by Olog-hai
A Georgia man convicted of throwing scalding water on a sleeping same-sex couple told one of them to “get out of my house with all that gay,” a victim testified, yet he couldn’t be charged with a hate crime because the state has no such law.
Victim Anthony Gooden said in a recent interview that he still can’t use his left arm, which was severely burned in the 2016 attack, and wears a brace. He can’t tie his shoelaces or work. Martin Blackwell was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the crime.
“Forty years is not enough to have your skin turn different shades of colors and peel off,” said Fani Willis, who prosecuted the case and said she would have considered using a hate crimes charge. “Those young boys were burned because of their sexuality. We have to acknowledge that it was a hateful reason.”
Georgia is one of only four states — along with South Carolina, Wyoming and Arkansas — without an official hate crimes law. The state Supreme Court overturned a previous law in 2004 and bills that would have brought Georgia in line with federal law failed to pass over the past two legislative sessions. …
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
What he did was awful enough as a crime to put him away for a long time.
If the laws aren’t strong enough, make them stronger.
Dont make up new categories of crime.
This sick #### had HATRED in his heart that was going to be taken out on someone sooner or later.
Many here are NO fan of the gay lifestyle yet I ASSUME NONE here would commit this act.
It’s the man. Not the particular crime.
Which crimes are crimes of LOVE!??!
40 years is a long sentence.
I think it should be more.
Hate crime designation is redundant, waste of time, counterproductive, used for reasons not related to justice.
Good for Georgia.
Hate crimes are the worst thing ever passed. If the guy threw hot water on him, it will just have to be a regular crime.
As always, the article has an agenda......................
Well, the perpetrator did get 40 years.
‘Martin Blackwell was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the crime.’
I guess I’m missing the need for the law...
Hate crime laws are the gateway drug to Thought Police.
Hate crime statutes are unnecessary. Assault, murder and theft are already crimes.
Second, hate crime laws are UNFAIR. That a black assaulting a white because they are white is not punished as harshly as a white attacking a black is systemic oppression. We’ve already seen private disputes where “hate” and bigotry aren’t a factor turned into “hate crimes” so that a prosecutor gets brownie points with liberal bigots. We see the same thing with Title IX cases, where a girl says the hicky is consensual and someone else files a rape claim against the boyfriend.
The third problem is that these laws are inherently political and regularly politicized. Fake a hate crime to further your political agenda is COMMON on college campuses by both social justice students and professors.
Crime is crime.
Hate doesn’t enter into it,
nor does it exonerate.
It may however exhilarate.
That however is not a crime.
So if the guy threw hot water on a straight couple his punishment should have been less ?
Hate Crime Laws are blatantly Unconstitutional.
Hate is a Motive, not a Crime.
Less than what a hate crime law would have stipulated for a homosexual couple, yes.
How does “hate” intent differ from any other intent. The punishment is for the damage the offense causes the victim, not the kind of intent.
They’re also unconstitutional per the equal protection clause in the Fourteenth Amendment. However, we still need a Supreme Court that will recognize that fact.
“Hate crime”
Because we need various victim classes.
40 years is a long sentence for aggravated assault. Lots of murderers and rapists serve much less time.
It was a rhetorical question :)
Good for Georgia.
The guy committed a crime that earned him a jail sentence anyways.
They don’t need to add made up crimes to it.
Our son had a gun aimed at his head, black guy tried to fire it three times but it jammed. All the time screaming “white boy.”
He got ten years.
The crime was one of Abomination.
So was the act of the two participating individuals.
I don’t think evil has any particular proclivity. ‘Pod.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.