6 NYC teens charged with murder as hate crime

[NoGOPZone]

Source: Associated Press

Authorities say six New York City teenagers have been charged with murder as a hate crime in the beating and stomping of an 18-year-old perceived to be gay.

Anthony Collao of Bethpage on Long Island was attacked in March while leaving a birthday party in Woodhaven, Queens.

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said Thursday the defendants were each charged in a 21-count indictment that includes second-degree murder as a hate crime. Brown said the charges were upgraded after new evidence from witnesses.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said previously that the suspects made "homophobic remarks" and scrawled on a wall with red markers after crashing the party.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110623/ap_on_re_us/us_birthday_party_attack?bouchon=501,ny

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[Dogtown]

2. K&R n/t

[Eyerish]

3. K&R

[BR_Parkway]

4. Dear NY Senators - here's what your NO vote enables - each and every

time. As long as you want to keep us 2nd class, the blood stays on your hands.

[jwirr]

8. Absolutely. I hope they get the max sentences.

[John Paul Jones]

11. Way overstated. A few pages of legalize would not have prevented this...

[closeupready]

17. Wrong on your point and wrong in grammar.

nt

[John Paul Jones]

20. Definitely wrong in the grammar...

[No Elephants]

32. Do you mean spelling?

[BR_Parkway]

18. You obviously have no concept of how the constant demonization of the LGBT

community gives tactic consent to others treating us like 2nd class humans works

[John Paul Jones]

19. Trust me, I understand quite well.

However, I also understand that vicious people like the ones who attacked this kid probably don't know what a state legislature is. And I am quite certain that they have no idea what the legislature is debating at the moment.

[No Elephants]

34. Well, you know what Reagan said about trust.

"Trust, but verify."

There is a track record of violence decreasing when laws stops discriminating, as with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Also a track record of violence being abundant when laws do discriminate, as with Jim Crow and laws in the Middle East that make women and members of the LGBT community "less than."

[No Elephants]

33. Agree

[No Elephants]

30. If you are implying that state and/or federal law that stamps one group as "less than"

has no significant effect on violence toward members of that group, you are mistaken.

[John Paul Jones]

37. The ONLY thing I am implying is that if the NY legislature had enacted

gay marriage legislation the day before this attack, the attacked would have still occurred.

[progressoid]

13. +1

[underseasurveyor]

5. How horrible

and so sad. Poor guy :-(

A co-worker friend of mine left work one night last week and on his car someone wrote 'fag' on his rear window.
He called the cops and made sure it went on the record. I told him next time, if it happens again, take a picture for evidence... just in case.

[prete_nero]

6. question

A lot of commentors at that yahoo link are all upset because 'the gays are getting special rights' by this being labeled a 'hate crime'. I wonder if any of you know if there is actually a difference in the severity of possible punishments because of that label or if it is one of those situations where it is labeled as a violation of a different statute for clarification purposes but the punishments are the same.

[underseasurveyor]

10. I *think*

The punishment if found guilty is increased somewhat if it's a hate crime.... I'm pretty sure but perhaps someone that's knows for sure will chime in.

[enki23]

23. It can up it to a federal crime.

and anyone who off on some fucking ignorant "thought crime" horseshit needs his ass kicked. if we didn't consider intent when we prosecuted crimes, there would be no difference between first degree murder and justifiable homicide, much less everything in between.

[skepticscott]

29. You should have your

ass kicked for confusing motive and intent. Your lame blustering aside, hate crimes ARE thought crimes. You'll just have to cope with that.

[No Elephants]

35. Point is, a defendant's state of mind has always been important in criminal cases.

Sometimes, for example, the defendant's thoughts or state of mind makes all the difference between, say, manslaughter and first degree murder. And that difference makes a big difference in sentencing.

Moreover, people who are killed as a result of hate crimes don't die from the the perp's thoughts. Or anything the victim could have prevented. Rather, they die because a perp's hatred of a certain group resulted in the perp's committing a violent crime against a member of that group.

Concomitantly, you can hate a group all you want, but you don't get punished unless your hate leads you to commit a physical crime, whereupon your hate will affect sentencing.

Calling a hate crime a thought crime is deceptive for any number of reasons.

[skepticscott]

36. You apparently don't grasp the difference between

motive and intent either. It's just a wee bit important here.

[enki23]

40. actually, what i have to cope with are angry glibertarians

I was using the word in an english, non legal sense. Both of those, however, are very much in the realm of "thought" and there is no real world separation of the two. Both of them are used in determining degree of guilt in any case. Someone with the intent to kill because they believe they are being attacked has a different motive from someone who intends to kill someone because they believe they are carrying a lot of cash.

So, yeah. Bullshit.

[skepticscott]

42. Sorry, but you need to go back

to Criminal Law 101. I have neither the time nor the inclination to educate you further. Just ask yourself why it's not written into statutes that people who steal or kill for reasons of greed aren't singled out for more severe punishment. Is greed not as destructive an attitude?

"Hate" crimes are thought crimes. It can't be put any more plainly.

[Dollface]

7. I used to think "A Clockwork Orange" was just a distopian fantasy.

Time for the Ludovico Technique

[slackmaster]

12. A Clockwork Orange was no more a dystopian fantasy than was 1984

Both were based on real-life observations and experiences of their authors.

[Imagevision]

9. These kids parents must be a piece of work...

[Deep13]

14. "Teens" could mean anything from 13-yrs-old to a day shy of 20.

Are these defendants adults? :shrug:

[Moosepoop]

24. One is 16, the other three are 17.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-03-15/news/29149203_1_party-crashers-anti-gay-slurs-jamaica-hospital

[closeupready]

15. Good.

K&R

[valerief]

16. Fundies must be so proud. nt

[slackmaster]

22. The issue is gang violence

Not religion.

[valerief]

39. Fundies preach hating gays. That can, and does, lead to violence. nt

[slackmaster]

41. So, violent street gangs are taking their marching orders from religious fanatics

:crazy:

[sarcasmo]

21. Kick.

[Corruption Winz]

25. I have a very strong feeling that I will be in the minority on this one...

But I'm not so sure this is a hate crime. It's a crime and a hateful one. However, in order for crimes like "hate crimes" or "terrorist attacks" to carry any weight, crimes need to be considered that when it truthfully fits the bill.

Now, the evidence is still coming in, obviously, and I'm not sticking up for these assholes. Regardless of why they killed him, they all deserve to at the very least be in prison for the rest of their lives. However, that still doesn't make it a hate crime.

Theoretically speaking, words that have nothing to do with sexuality could have been exchanged and these horrible bastards could have beaten this kid for that. Calling him whatever name they could think of. If they perceived him to be gay, I'm sure homosexual slurs were thrown in. Doesn't exactly mean you hate homosexuals. It means that you say what you feel will evoke the most emotion out of you and the person you're stomping, I'd imagine.

Just saying.

[Kurovski]

26. It's true that the trial has yet to come.

And that's about all that really can be said on that count.

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[BreweryYardRat]

28. Say it with me, folks.

The death penalty needs to be the automatic sentence for hate crimes. It's the only way to stop this sort of inhuman behavior.

[obxhead]

31. No.

The death penalty needs to be removed as a form of punishment completely. First it's not a punishment, it's revenge. Second, just one faulty trial makes the state a murderer, not a punisher.

[slackmaster]

38. People aren't smart enough to use the death penalty

As long as the probability of executing the wrong person is greater than zero, I cannot condone it.