Final suspect in Mississippi hate crime gang attacks sentenced to 10 years in prison
Source: The Guardian
Robert Rice, now 24, convicted of felony hate crime and aggravated assault; Group of 10 white teenagers committed string of assaults on African Americans
The last of a group of 10 young white defendants was sentenced on Friday for his role in a string of racially motivated assaults on black people in Mississippi, which ended with a horrific killing that echoed the worst violence of the civil rights era.
Robert Rice, 24, was ordered on Friday in Jackson, Mississippi, to serve 10 years in prison, the maximum sentence on charges of a felony hate crime and aggravated assault.
He took part in a series of forays from the suburbs, where the then teenagers lived, into the city, looking for random opportunities to attack African Americans, the court heard.
Despite taking part in three episodes of racist violence, Rice was not present on the night of the final episode prior to the group being apprehended, in June 2011, when others of the group encountered 49-year-old James Anderson in the parking lot of a motel on the outskirts of Jackson, beat him viciously, then fatally ran him down with one of their vehicles.
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Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/final-suspect-in-mississippi-hate-crime-gang-attacks-sentenced-to-10-years-in-prison/
Ivywoods55
(131 posts)No one called these good upstanding white kids thugs after their rampage? I mean the newspaper article, not anyone on this site..I am constantly amazed at how little white thugs are described and distinguished from Black ones. Only in racist America.
NBachers
(17,007 posts)These are thugs, that is the only way to describe them, Judge Henry Wingate said of Rice and his co-defendants at Rices sentencing on Friday, according to the Clarion-Ledger, the Jackson-based daily newspaper and news website.
Journeyman
(15,001 posts)making his opinion the official court position towards these criminals, how does that fit with your Weltanschauung?
840high
(17,196 posts)McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,219 posts)with white U.S. intentions.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)They are wise and more generous than the killers, who had a pattern of abuse toward black people.
IMO, this is worse than other killings, as they were free to live good lives, and this is how they chose to enjoy their liberty.
I don't think they can be redeemed or be trusted in society. Fortunately I'm not in charge as they'd never walk the streets again if I were.
Because I am sick of this and want it to end like... hundreds of years ago.
Judi Lynn
(160,219 posts)How lonely that man had to be seeing those nasty, contorted, leering, sneering, snotty self-important faces grinning, taunting him as they went about their business of terrorizing the man, destroying all hope, before they decided to steal his life.
I wish it would have been possible for him to look beyond their ugly faces to see someone like an alleged angel standing calmly, showing him he would transcend the moment and move on to a better world, that he/she would guide him there. Too much heartbreak for one person to suffer, in my complete view.
riversedge
(69,731 posts)Quackers
(2,256 posts)Jail is too good for them.