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DonViejo

(60,536 posts)
Sat May 9, 2015, 03:44 PM May 2015

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.

-snip-





Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/final-suspect-in-mississippi-hate-crime-gang-attacks-sentenced-to-10-years-in-prison/

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Final suspect in Mississippi hate crime gang attacks sentenced to 10 years in prison (Original Post) DonViejo May 2015 OP
What? These are not thugs? Suspects? Ivywoods55 May 2015 #1
From the article at the link: NBachers May 2015 #3
Since they were described as thugs in open court by the judge as he sentenced them . . . Journeyman May 2015 #4
How do u feel now? 840high May 2015 #5
They should have been called terrorists. That was what they were doing. McCamy Taylor May 2015 #6
That only seems to apply when the victims are either white, or politically in step Judi Lynn May 2015 #10
A telling paragraph from the link: freshwest May 2015 #2
If ever there had been a time for divine intervention, this would have been the occassion. Judi Lynn May 2015 #7
+1000 Tom Ripley May 2015 #9
Good to see there is justice for hate crimes in Mississippi. riversedge May 2015 #8
Good! Quackers May 2015 #11

Ivywoods55

(131 posts)
1. What? These are not thugs? Suspects?
Sat May 9, 2015, 05:12 PM
May 2015

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)
3. From the article at the link:
Sat May 9, 2015, 06:08 PM
May 2015

“These are thugs, that is the only way to describe them,” Judge Henry Wingate said of Rice and his co-defendants at Rice’s sentencing on Friday, according to the Clarion-Ledger, the Jackson-based daily newspaper and news website.

Journeyman

(15,001 posts)
4. Since they were described as thugs in open court by the judge as he sentenced them . . .
Sat May 9, 2015, 06:24 PM
May 2015

making his opinion the official court position towards these criminals, how does that fit with your Weltanschauung?

Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
10. That only seems to apply when the victims are either white, or politically in step
Sun May 10, 2015, 10:48 PM
May 2015

with white U.S. intentions.

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
2. A telling paragraph from the link:
Sat May 9, 2015, 05:24 PM
May 2015
The family had earlier asked the court not to seek the death penalty for Dedmon because it had historically been overused to execute blacks accused of killing whites and they did not think capital punishment in this case would do anything to reverse history’s statistics.

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)
7. If ever there had been a time for divine intervention, this would have been the occassion.
Sun May 10, 2015, 05:27 AM
May 2015

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.

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