Hate Crimes

[saganista]

Originally Posted by citigirl

..........but don't let that interfere with your agenda.

Defendants Kirk and Lappin each apologized and pled guilty to a single count of felony malicious harassment rather than common assault. Each was given the maximum sentence of nine months in prison.

Here is the defintion of the crime they pled guilty to taken from the applicable state code (RCW = Revised Code of Washington). Please pay close attention to the final paragraphs, as they are of particular relevance to the arguments that you have attempted to make...

RCW 9A.36.080 Malicious harassment -- Definition and criminal penalty.

(1) A person is guilty of malicious harassment if he or she maliciously and intentionally commits one of the following acts because of his or her perception of the victim's race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or mental, physical, or sensory handicap:

-- Causes physical injury to the victim or another person;

-- Causes physical damage to or destruction of the property of the victim or another person; or

-- Threatens a specific person or group of persons and places that person, or members of the specific group of persons, in reasonable fear of harm to person or property. The fear must be a fear that a reasonable person would have under all the circumstances.

For purposes of this section, a "reasonable person" is a reasonable person who is a member of the victim's race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation, or who has the same mental, physical, or sensory handicap as the victim.

Words alone do not constitute malicious harassment unless the context or circumstances surrounding the words indicate the words are a threat.

Threatening words do not constitute malicious harassment if it is apparent to the victim that the person does not have the ability to carry out the threat.