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Prosectors Say the Kansas Shooting of Garmin Engineers Was a Hate Crime (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Federal prosecutors have filed a hate crime charge against 51-year-old Kansas resident Adam Purinton, according to the Department of Justice. Purinton, who is accused of shooting three people in an Olathe bar, reportedly told a local Garmin engineer to "get out of my country" before opening fire. Purinton is currently being held on first-degree murder charges filed by local prosecutors. Today's indictment accuses Purinton of committing murder "because of Kuchibhotla's actual and perceived race, color, religion and national origin," with additional charges for the attempted murder of Madasani and violations of federal firearm statutes. The Justice Department declined to say whether it will pursue the death penalty, although it is authorized by the hate crime statute.
The reason Federal hate crimes were created to begin with so that where a state's law enforcement, prosecution or courts would refuse to charge, prosecute or convict some mouth-breathing KKKer for lynching someone, they would still see justice. Do you have a problem with that?
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Well, Colin Ferguson committed his crime in 1993 and New York didn't pass hate crime legislation until 2000. Federal hate crime legislation didn't really take off until 1994.
Just what "hate crime" law do you contend should have enhanced Ferguson's sentence?
Your knowledge of the law, sense of time, and apparent ignorance of prohibitions against ex post facto laws is irredeemably broken...
Prior to 2001, the federal justice department had a policy that it would not pursue capital punishment in states which did not have their own death penalty. Given that, and Ferguson's 300 year sentence, there would be no reason for federal prosecutors to step in.