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I know that I'm going against conventional wisdom here, but it seems to me that the guy was convicted of assault, which he did commit.

I agree that the hate crimes thing is crap, but it was thrown out and he was convicted of the assault charge -- presumably for saying that he was going to "kick his butt".

Also, I'd like to hear the referee's side of the story. As a high-school and college basketball referee I can tell you that the fan's side of the story never corresponds to the official's story, nor to what really happened. There is another side of the story that we are not hearing about.

I agree that the hate crimes thing is crap, but it was thrown out and he was convicted of the assault charge -- presumably for saying that he was going to "kick his butt"..

He was originally charged with a hate crime which resulted in him being ostracized by the community, loss of business, loss of job and loss of home. Seems a lot of damage was done to these people's lives. Manley could have asked the lady not to take the pictures. It was not necessary to muscle her.

I'm not a lawyer, but I thought that just because someone threatens to beat you up doesn't necessarily add up to assult. You have to be physically capable of it. this Manley guy sounds like he's pretty big.

I think Manly actually admitted, in court, under oath, to assaulting Kimberly Rae. Whereas her husband was convicted of assault and ostracized because he yelled the *now illegal to be uttered or written by white people* N-word at someone other than Manly, the supposed victim of the assault. Lonney Rae was dragged away from the scene of the admitted crime and criminal, it's reasonable for him to be upset, being upset is not an assualt.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened, it won't be the last.

First of all, from what I am reading, she was not just a fan - she is a freelance reporter. She was taking pictures of the event because she was covering the story. I am not familiar with Idaho law, but I doubt it's legal to use force to take a camera away from a reporter just because you don't want your picture taken.

Also, (once again - from what I've read) the ref supposedly admitted in court that he attempted to wrestle the camera away from her. If what I have read is accurate, the ref should have been charged with assault and possibly even attempted robbery.

It is hard to know exactly what happened without actually being there. We all know how reliable journalists are. There were witnesses present, I believe, but I have not found any record of the testimonies presented in court for this case.

Here is a link to a related article posted here last August:

Racist or Scapegoat? Idaho Man Charged With Hate Crime for Using Racial Slur in Defense of Wife