3 Found Guilty Under Hate Crimes Law

Three men with white-supremacist tattoos who punched and kicked a black man at a Houston bus stop last summer in an attack that included racial slurs have been convicted in the first Texas case brought under a relatively new federal hate crimeย law, the AP reports: Suggested Reading The Real Tea Behind Tina Knowles, Mathew Divorce…

Three men with white-supremacist tattoos who punched and kicked a black man at a Houston bus stop last summer in an attack that included racial slurs have been convicted in the first Texas case brought under a relatively new federal hate crimeย law, the AP reports:

Video will return here when scrolled back into view
Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?
Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?

FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said 26-year-old Charles Cannon, 40-year-old Michael McLaughlin and 32-year-old Brian Kerstetter were found guilty by a jury Monday after a two-dayย trial.

She said charges were dismissed against 49-year-old Joseph Staggs, who testified against theย others.

All three men face up to 10 years in prison under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, passed inย 2009.

It sounds like the Department of Justice is getting serious about this type of case. "Today's convictions under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act show that hate crimes are far too common in this country," said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general of the Civil Rights Division in a press release yesterday. He added, "The department will continue to use every available tool to identify and prosecute hate crimes whenever and wherever they occur."

Read more at CHRON 4 News.

Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Straight From The Root

Sign up for our free daily newsletter.