Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both;
and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both;
and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
Nonsense. He won’t be charged with the federal offense you cited. Never in a million years.
That is the statute that would apply if the KKK strung a couple of them up from a tree.
This defendant may not be convicted of any murder much less civil rights murder. The first fact supporting that statute has not surfaced.
Manslaughter and probably negligent homicide will be choices to the jury. Everyone learned the lesson with Zimmerman. And, at the end of the trail don’t be surprised if one of those is the verdict. I place it as even odds right now. And, a manslaughter conviction in SC is not a very long sentence in actual practice. Years, not decades.