If you thought the world could not become any more of a crazy place, you need only watch politicians and the judicial system get together and prove you wrong. Case in point is the story of lesbians being charged with a hate crime for beating up a gay man. Yes, this is a real news story from Boston Herald.com. As always my comments are in italics.
LAWYER: LESBIANS’ ASSAULT ON GAY MAN CAN’T BE HATE CRIME
Three women identified by their lawyers as lesbians were arraigned yesterday on a hate crime charge for allegedly beating a gay man at the Forest Hills T station in an unusual case that experts say exposes the law’s flawed logic.
(Sarcasm Alert) What flawed logic? Why shouldn’t you be punished for the feelings you have as you pummel someone into oblivion? If you beat down someone to near death while shouting “Oh how I love you,” should you simply be let go to carry on about your business?
“My guess is that no sane jury would convict them under those circumstances, but what this really demonstrates is the idiocy of the hate-crime legislation,” said civil liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate. “If you beat someone up, you’re guilty of assault and battery of a human being. Period. The idea of trying to break down human beings into categories is doomed to failure.”
As someone who has served on juries, I can say there are times when sane and jury don’t really go together. (Sarcasm alert) What fun would the judicial system be if everyone was actually treated fairly based on a competent interpretation of the law? Think of how fewer lawsuits would be filed and how many attorneys would be out of work. It would change our legal system forever.
Prosecutors and the ACLU of Massachusetts said no matter the defendants’ sexual orientation, they can still face the crime of assault and battery with intent to intimidate, which carries up to a 10-year prison sentence, by using hateful language.
“Someone who is Jewish can be anti-Semitic,” said ACLU staff attorney Sarah Wunsch. “The mere fact that someone is a member of the same class doesn’t mean they could not be motivated by hatred for their very own group.”
That makes sense. You can hate yourself. I wonder if I go out and beat up a middle-aged white guy who’s been married for decades because I hate middle-aged white guys who have been married for decades if I would be charged with a hate crime? It shouldn’t matter that I beat him up because he tried to beat me up or physically harm me. What’s important in the legal world is what I’m feeling as I beat someone. I’m looking forward to the day when we have legislation to punish causing envy. This will be where people can be brought up on charges for making others upset because of all the stuff they own.
"The defendant has been found innocent of assaulting someone because that person had a car the defendant always wanted."
But Carolyn Euell, 38, mother of two of the defendants, Erika Stroud, 21, of Dorchester and Felicia Stroud, 18, West Roxbury, told reporters the alleged attack “can’t be hateful” because both her daughters are lesbians.
Prosecutor Lindsey Weinstein said the two sisters and one of their domestic partners, Lydia Sanford, also a defendant, viciously beat the man Sunday, repeatedly punching and kicking him after he bumped them with his backpack on a stairwell.
He bumped them with his backpack?
With our judicial system, I’m surprised that the backpack wasn’t brought up on charges. I think the backpack instigated the entire incident. Maybe the backpack secretly hates gays!
She said the victim, who suffered a broken nose, told cops he believed the attack was “motivated as a crime because of his sexual orientation” since the three women “called him insulting homophobic slurs.”
Does this man walk around with a sign telling the world about his sex life? I know guys like to brag about such things but… gee. How did the girls actually know?
But attorney Helene Tomlinson, who represented Sanford, told the judge her client is “openly identified as a lesbian ... so any homophobic (conduct) is unwarranted.” She said the alleged victim was the aggressor and used racial slurs: “He provoked them.”
Wow! Homophobic slurs, racial slurs they probably even said some very hurtful things about his favorite television shows. If they know his sex life, they probably know that as well.
Felicia Stroud’s attorney, C. Harold Krasnow, said, “They don’t know what his sexual orientation is, just like he doesn’t know what theirs is.”
Krasnow later noted the low bail the judge gave the women, $100 to $500 cash, and suggested the prosecution’s case was weak.
Why would having a weak case stop them? They’re getting a lot of free media coverage so it all balances out.
Civil-rights attorney Chester Darling agreed. “No one should go to court. It’s knuckle justice,” he said. “It’s a fair exchange.”
But Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, said prosecutors will have no problem proving the women committed a hate crime, even if they are lesbians.
“The defendants’ particular orientation or alleged orientations have no bearing on our ability to prosecute for allegedly targeting a person who they believe to be different from them,” he said.
I say the prosecutors should charge the racist, homophobic backpack for the crime! The backpack should serve jail time and when released be required to go to sensitivity training. If the prosecutors of this country work together they can stop the inevitable plague of racist, homophobic backpacks that are sure to bring the judicial system to ruin. (If Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley is reading this the previous sentence might be considered sarcasm. Please don’t bring me up on sarcasm charges. I have no defense.)
Here's a link to the article.
https://www.bostonherald.com/2012/02/25/lawyer-lesbians-assault-on-gay-man-cant-be-hate-crime/
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