Tag Archives: hate crimes

Via Philadelphia’s CBS affiliate: Defense lawyers for the three Bucks County defendants charged with attacking a gay couple in Center City last September intend to file pre-trial motions, in an attempt to eliminate or reduce the charges. The three defendants — Kevin Harrigan, Philip Williams and Kathryn Knott — all of whom are in their mid 20’s, appeared with their …

A New York man charged in a 2013 gang attack on a gay couple outside Madison Square Garden yesterday pleaded guilty to a hate crime. His plea arrangement will result in a sentence of only two years of probation. Martin Martinez was arrested in October 2013, four months after he and a group of Knicks fans came across Nick Porto …

Via Philly Magazine: The case will be brought before a municipal court judge to determine if there was probable cause to arrest the suspects in September. Attorney for Kevin Harrigan, Josh Scarpello, tells me, “we won’t decide the truth of the matter in that first hearing. It is a probable-cause hearing to establish if the case should go to trial.” …

Via a local North Carolina CBS affiliate: Five members of a local church are facing serious charges. The Word of Faith Fellowship has been apart of the Spindale community in Rutherford County, North Carolina for more than three decades. One former member says something that happened behind closed doors had him fearing for his life. “I honestly thought I was …

From the FBI: Today, the FBI released its annual Hate Crime Statistics report, which revealed that 5,928 hate crime incidents involving 6,933 offenses were reported by our law enforcement partners to the Bureau’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program in 2013. These hate crime incidents impacted a total of 7,242 victims—which are defined as individuals, businesses, institutions, or society as a …

Two years ago a young lesbian was shot and killed and her girlfriend was severely wounded as they visited a south Texas park. Vigils for the pair were held that weekend in several major cities. In June of this year Texas police arrested a suspect. Today MSNBC follows up on the case and the survivor as she struggles with disabilities …

Via White House press release: Five years ago, I was proud to sign the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act into law – a law that strengthened the protections against crimes based on the color of our skin, the love in our hearts, the faith we practice, or the place of our birth. This law gave …

No surprise here. Wolf has said that he would sign a statewide hate crimes law like the one unanimously approved last week by the Philadelphia City Council.

Details. (Tipped by JMG reader Joe)

Via the Philadelphia Inquirer: City Council unanimously approved a measure on Thursday that would make it a crime to harm someone because of sexual orientation, gender identity, or disabilities. The proposal was triggered by the Sept. 11 assault on a gay couple in Center City. In that case, police arrested three people but could not charge them with a hate …

“The question here is whether the crime was solely a function of the homophobic hatred of two strangers who beat up and brutally murdered someone merely because he was gay. That’s the official line of the Matthew Shepard Foundation and the Human Rights Campaign. Of course these motives could also have been involved. I’m arguing that meth can explain all …

The drunk redneck whose vicious anti-gay assault at the Dallas airport was captured on a video that rocketed around the world has been charged with misdemeanor assault and probably faces at most, a $1000 fine. John Wright reports at Lone Star Q: According to the report obtained by Lone Star Q, the man’s name is McCleish Christmas Benham, 27. He …

Via Philadelphia Gay News: House Bill 177 had gained momentum in the House following last month’s gay-bashing incident in Philadelphia, and cleared the House Judiciary Committee last week. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-170th Dist.) introduced the bill and said he worked aggressively to push it to the House floor, but came up against more roadblocks. “Republican leadership, i.e. Speaker [Sam] Smith, …

The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating a brutal street attack on Brooklyn transgender woman that took place on Sunday night. From the New York Daily News: The four bias brutes who beat a 28-year-old transgender woman unconscious on a Brooklyn street corner — leaving her with critical injuries — spewed anti-gay epithets and demanded to know what she …

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett is weeks away from a double-digit drubbing at the hands of LGBT ally and hate crimes law advocate Tom Wolf. This is the ad Corbett is going out with.

Twitter sleuth FanSince09, who led a crowd-sourced social media campaign that identified the suspects in last month’s gay bashing in Philadelphia, today appeared on The View.  He declined to show his face. Gawker has the video.

Spain’s autonomous Catalonia region has approved an anti-homophobia bill which requires those accused of anti-LGBT acts to prove they are innocent, rather than be considered so until proven guilty. Via TeleSUR: The law, passed on Thursday and backed by 80% of the Catalan Chamber, will protect the LGBT community from homophobic attacks. “I feel furious when someone appears to deny …

Via CBS Philadelphia: In the wake of the September 11th gay bashing incident in Center City, the House Democratic Policy Committee held a public hearing on LGBT hate crimes Thursday. “We have an uphill battle in this legislative climate to pass LGBT hate crimes laws,” said State representative Brian Sims. Sims called the hearing, which was held at the Kimmel …

Yesterday a Pennsylvania judge set December 16th as the date for a joint preliminary hearing for the three suspects in the brutal Philadelphia gay bashing that captured national attention. Following that hearing, a judge will determine if there is enough evidence to warrant a trial. The defendants – Kathryn Knott, 24, Philip Williams, 24, and Kevin Harrigan, 26 – were …