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Two men were charged with a hate crime after they beat a black man with garbage cans outside a Joliet gas station on Saturday night. Lucas M. Bailey and Jerry Bryant, both white, "are charged with aggravated battery, mob action, committing a hate crime and resisting a police officer." When police intervened in the beating, the pair swung the garbage cans at the responding officer. Real smart, guys. The victim sustained lacerations and bruises to the head, though his injuries were not life-threatening. To absolutely no one's surprise, both suspects have criminal records.
Pair Charged With Hate Crime
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Mugshots are like looking glasses to the soul. The guy on the right looks like he feels completely justified by his actions.
If you look up Jerry Bryant's profile on the IL. DOC website, this guy is one bad seed. Aside from his lengthy record, he was just paroled 3 weeks ago. Tossing salads must be a hidden craft.
While this might have very well been a hate crime, I think the biggest factor is that these guys appear to be a pair of aimless mopes.
While these idiots likely deserve to spend the next two decades in prison, why is the skin color of the victim play a role in what crime they are being charged with?
They would deserve less time if they did the exact same thing to a white person? Or if two black guys had done this to the same victim they would deserve less?
Oh, and poster #1 I know how to get out of jury duty. They look so evil, they must be guilty!
IANAL, but I believe the essence of a hate crime is the motivation. I think the prosecutors would have to be able to demonstrate the motivation to prove a hate crime. I am not sure what that requires. . . perhaps yelling racial slurs is enough, or maybe the two geniuses told the cops they did it because the guy was black. Again, IANAL, but I don't believe that victim and perpetrator having different skin colors is enough to make a crime a hate crime.
And the reason a "hate crime" is worse than a regular crime is that they have more than one victim. A crime against a black person because he/she is black is a crime against black people in general (feel free to substitute "gay" or "Muslim" or "female" or whatever categorization you want in place of "black"). The act is perpetrated against a representative of a group, not against the individual.
Yes, yelling racial slurs is enough, legally, to make it a hate crime.