Hate crime possible in deaths of immigrant mother, daughter

AZCentral.com/Arizona Republic ^ | Feb. 9, 2004 | Justin Pritchard

[lonewacko_dot_com]

FREMONT, Calif. - Maria Esperanza Hernandez usually got a ride to her 5 a.m. shift at a nursing home, but this time, she had to walk the four miles through the night. Her daughter was so concerned, she joined her.

They never made it.

Hernandez and her 19-year-old daughter, Maria del Carmen Castillo Hernandez, were bludgeoned to death with a 30-inch-long tree branch as they walked down a suburban street.

Police searching for a suspect have not ruled out the possibility that the killings were a hate crime because the attacker was described as white and the victims were from Mexico...

Because the victims were illegal immigrants, they could not have obtained driver's licenses even if they could afford to buy a car. That has become a flashpoint in the case among Hispanics because a law to allow undocumented immigrants apply for licenses was repealed after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took office.

"It's a very difficult political situation," said Fily Cuellar, Maria Esperanza Hernandez's nephew and the girl's cousin. "She was not able to get a license, so then they had to walk. And this happened."

[lonewacko_dot_com]

This AP story was already posted here a few days ago under the title "Police See Possible Hate Crime in Calif."

It appears in about sixty other newspapers under the same or a very similar title.

The AZCentral story is the same as all of the others, with the exception of the headline, which has been changed to include the fact that they were "immigrants."

As I discussed here, there are two main problems with the AP report:

1. There are many other possible motives besides it being a hate crime. Why weren't those possibilities highlighted?

2. The AP article morphs from a crime report into a piece designed to get us to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens.

Apparently, AZCentral didn't think the original AP report was biased enough, and it had to come up with an even more inflammatory headline.

Please contact AZCentral using the following addresses and politely suggest they stop publishing AgitProp from the AP and refrain from making the AP's AgitProp even more inflammatory.

AZCentral.com:

Leon Levitt
Executive Vice President/Digital Media
(602) 444-8396
llevitt@azcentral.com

John Leach
Editor, Digital Media
(602) 444-8746
jleach@azcentral.com

AZ Republic:

Ward Bushee Editor 602-444-8087
ward.bushee@arizonarepublic.com

Jeff Dozbaba News Editor 602-444-4379
jeff.dozbaba@arizonarepublic.com

Randy Lovely Managing Editor 602-444-8790
randy.lovely@arizonarepublic.com

AP:
info@ap.org

[zygoat]

These race-baiting liberals make me nauseous.

[kaboom]

Heck, I'm just amazed that they actually used the words "illegal" and "immigrant" together.

[Houmatt]

So it's only a hate crime as long as it is committed by a white person.

Remarkable.

[skeeter]

"She was not able to get a license, so then they had to walk. And this happened."

So pathetically opportunistic, its funny.

[Mr Spock]

I really don't give a rats ass who it was, white guy, black guy, whatever. A horrible crime was committed and the killer should be brought to justice; end of story. I'm not going to read too much into how the newspaper worded the story. I have no need to go on the defensive like some of you guys here. Two innocent people were murdered. Show some compassion tough guys.

[Iron Matron]

She was not able to get a license, so then they had to walk. And this happened."


Sorry. One is not related to the other. Sorry they were murdered by someone of any color (who described the attacker as white? There was a witness?), but ILLEGAL ALIENS DO NOT NEED A LICENSE!

OR AMNESTY

OR MEDICAL

OR FOOD STAMPS

OR WELFARE

[skeeter]

A horrible crime was committed and the killer should be brought to justice; end of story.

Tell it to the reporter, not us.

[Mr Spock]

Tell it to the reporter, not us.

Why? Are you saying the reported made up the story? The only thing I got from the story was this:

A horrible crime was committed and the killer should be brought to justice; end of story.

I didn't get all this out of it:

Sorry. One is not related to the other. Sorry they were murdered by someone of any color (who described the attacker as white? There was a witness?), but ILLEGAL ALIENS DO NOT NEED A LICENSE! OR AMNESTY OR MEDICAL OR FOOD STAMPS OR WELFARE

Or this

So it's only a hate crime as long as it is committed by a white person. Remarkable.

[Tacis]

Every time this article is posted, I get annoyed. If the attacker had been seen to be a black man, would the "hate" crime aspect had been mentioned? It would have been logical to do so as the illegal criminal Mexicans are holding jobs that might have gone to blacks.

I am surprised the author did not hypothesize that the two criminals were killed by "crazed, right-wing, Christian racists..." Of course, the "armed with illegal tree branches" might have detracted. My bet is that a jealous, rejected suitor killed the younger in a fit of passion and got the older woman because she was there. If true, no revision will ever be published.

[prion]

Because the victims were illegal immigrants, they could not have obtained driver's licenses even if they could afford to buy a car.

Let me get this straight: they don't fear the INS, but they would never cross the DMV? Yeah, we'll live and work illegally, but we won't drive illegally?

[GSWarrior]

There's no such thing as a hate crime.

[lonewacko_dot_com]

Compare the AP report to this: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/7862136.htm

All it has to say about the driver's license/immigration issue is this: "Relatives at the Newark home, which was overflowing Monday with visitors, said Hernandez didn't have a driver's license."

Maybe it was the reporter that omitted the things the AP didn't omit, or maybe it was an editor.

In any case, the AP report obviously has a spin to it. They're trying to turn a horrible crime to their own ends. It's pretty obvious that the AP reporter and AZCentral have an agenda.

[thoughtomator]

That's what "hate crime" has always meant. It's an extra penalty attached for being white. Has there ever been a hate crime prosecution with a nonwhite defendant, or a white (not gay) victim?

[skeeter]

Of course you could be right. The reporter might not have an agenda.

He might honestly believe that the lack of a drivers license was so key to her murder that it needed to be mentioned (to the exclusion of all the other things she might not have had in her purse). Never mind that licenses for illegals happens to be a hot topic for the left in CA right now.

Or that the killer was motivated by hatred for mexicans based upon the simple fact that he(reportedly) is white. Another hot topic for leftist.

[Cultural Jihad]

Please contact AZCentral using the following addresses and ...

No, thanks. The article was far from a blight upon the nation.

Supposedly we're never supposed to mention the races and nationalities of those involved, nor their legal status, nor how the story relates to current events and issues which are in the minds of Californians?

Supposedly to satisfy the prurient interests of the patriotically-correct© readers, the storyline should have read: "Homeless white man, a former busboy who lost his job 15 years ago to an illegal immigrant for less money, a victim of Reagan's immigration and homeless policies, having been betrayed by the 'conservative' leader, George W. Bush, and seeing the nation betrayed to a certain doom, lashed out in frustration and anger at a couple of illegal invading criminals ..."

[Cultural Jihad]

Has there ever been a hate crime prosecution with a nonwhite defendant, or a white (not gay) victim?

Yes. In case you were really interested, here's one:

Penalty enhancement statutes have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. In Wisconsin v. Mitchell,<141>; a Black defendant challenged the state's penalty enhancement statute. Mitchell, who had been convicted of beating a White boy, faced an increased penalty because his crime was motivated by bias. Under state law, he faced an additional five years for his bias crime.<142>; Finding the provision content-neutral, the Court noted that "bias-inspired conduct" is an appropriate arena for penalty enhancement, because it is "thought to inflict greater individual and societal harm.<143>; Further, the Court observed, such conduct is likely to provoke "retaliatory crimes, inflict distinct emotional harm on their victims, and incite community unrest.<144>; A racial hoax law could be framed as either a pure bias crime or as a penalty enhancement. Given that the Supreme Court has upheld bias crime enhancement, this seems to be the safer constitutional route. However, a content-neutral bias statute would also likely withstand constitutional scrutiny.

Source

[lonewacko_dot_com]

You either misinterpreted my remarks or were replying to someone else.

The point is this is a crime story. The AP twisted it into a personification of why illegal aliens should get driver's licenses.

If you got a flyer from Gil Cedillo, he'd probably make the same points as the AP story. He'd present a sob story: "If only she'd had a license, she'd still be alive! In order to prevent any other cases like this, we need to pass out driver's licenses at the state line!"

The AP story isn't that bad, but if you read between the lines you'll see that they're advocating DLs for IAs.

[lonewacko_dot_com]

Just to make this clear, let's imagine how the NRA would spin the underlying story:

"Unarmed mother, daughter brutally murdered"

According to a relative, "They couldn't get a gun license, so they weren't armed when they were walking through Fremont. Then, this happened."

Rather than transforming this story into NRA-style propaganda, the AP has transformed it into pro-illegal-immigration propaganda. You might not notice it as such because you're so used to seeing the one and not the other.