Michigan

Lawsuit By Michigan Conservative Christian Group Seeks To Overturn Hate Crimes Law

Jillian Rayfield | January 17, 2012, 12:02PM

Gary Glenn of the Michigan branch of the American Family Association thinks the federal hate crimes law is trying to promote "thought crimes" and "eradicate religious beliefs opposing the homosexual agenda."

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Amish

Twelve In Alleged Amish Hair-Cutting Ring Plead Not Guilty To Hate Crimes Charges

Jillian Rayfield | January 12, 2012, 12:58PM

Johnny Mullet, Lester Mullet, Daniel Mullet, Levi Miller and Eli Miller wait to make their pleas in Holmes County Municipal Court in Millersburg, Ohio. October 19, 2011. (AP Photo)

Sam Mullet, the leader of a breakaway Amish clan, and eleven other members of an alleged hair-cutting mob pleaded not guilty to federal hate crimes charges.

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Sam Mullet

Hate Crime: Feds Charge Amish Beard-Cutting Suspects With Civil Rights Violations

Ryan J. Reilly and Jillian Rayfield | November 23, 2011, 1:28PM

Bergholz Clan leader Sam Mullet (AP)

Federal officials have arrested seven Amish men in Ohio and charged them with violating the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in connection with a string of beard-cutting incidents.

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Cody Crawford

Mosque Arson Suspect To Cops: 'Christians Can Jihad Too'

Ryan J. Reilly | August 25, 2011, 3:41PM

A federal grand jury in Oregon indicted 24-year-old Cody Crawford on federal hate crime and arson charges for allegedly setting fire to a mosque. The fire followed the arrest of a Muslim man for allegedly plotting a terrorist attack on a Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

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Arson

Fire That Killed Eight Horses May Have Been A Hate Crime

Jillian Rayfield | April 26, 2011, 5:48PM

whiz media group

Authorities in Ohio are investigating whether a barn fire that killed eight horses, which was ruled arson, was also a hate crime.

The barn was owned by Brent Whitehouse, who may have been targeted because of his sexuality. The barn's remains were been spray-painted with epithets like "fags are freaks" and "burn in hell." The State Fire Marshal's Office said in a statement that "in addition to the fire, investigators are also looking into messages painted on the barn and barn doors prior to the fire."

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Muslims

Two Men Charged With Hate Crimes For Allegedly Assaulting Imam

Rachel Slajda | December 10, 2010, 8:37AM

Two men have been charged with assault and robbery as a hate crime after attacking a Muslim religious leader on a New York City subway platform.

According to prosecutors, the two men, Albert Melendez, 30, and Eddie Crespo, 28, spotted the unidentified imam on the A train in Manhattan at about 3 a.m. Wednesday morning.

"What are you, a camel jockey? I don't like Muslims," Melendez said, according to the criminal complaint.

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Hate Crimes

Swastika-Branding Case Leads To First Charges Under Shepard Hate Crimes Law

Rachel Slajda | December 2, 2010, 10:44AM

William Hatch, Jesse Sanford, and Paul Beebe

A case in which three men allegedly kidnapped a mentally disabled Navajo man and branded him with a coat hanger shaped into a swastika has prompted the first-ever charges under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Tom Perez, the head of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, this week called the crime "a devastatingly persistent reminder that bigotry and hate continue."

According to prosecutors, the three men in their early 20s, all of whom worked at a McDonald's in Farmington, N.M., lured a 22-year-old man, whose name has not been released, into an apartment. While there, they allegedly drew on him, using permanent marker, a pentagram, an ejaculating penis, "white power" and "KKK." They allegedly shaved his head, leaving only the shape of a swastika.

Then, according to prosecutors, they bent a coat hanger into the shape of half a swastika and pressed it into his arm twice, branding him. They took cell phone of the act, allegedly, as well as video of the victim -- whose family says he has the mind of a 12-year-old as a result of being born with fetal alcohol syndrome-- "consenting" to the branding.

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DOJ Civil Rights Division

Judge Dismisses Challenge To Hate Crimes Law: Plaintiffs Argued Their Hate Would Cause Headaches

Ryan J. Reilly | September 8, 2010, 8:45AM

President Barack Obama and Louvon Harris, (left) Betty Byrd Boatner, (right) both sisters of James Byrd, Jr., and Judy Shepard (center) mother of Matthew Shepard.

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a challenge to the constitutionality of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention law, granting Attorney General Eric Holder's motion to dismiss the challenge to the law that protects gay, bisexual and transgender individuals from bias-motivated violence because the plaintiffs lacked jurisdiction.

Judge Thomas L. Ludington of the Eastern District of Michigan ruled Tuesday that the claim by Michigan Christians that they would be prosecuted under the hate crimes law was entirely speculative, as they would have had to be at risk of committing violent acts or would have had to admit to committing such acts in the past to be at risk of prosecution.

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Eric Holder

DOJ: Religion-Based Violence 'Intolerable'

Rachel Slajda | September 7, 2010, 6:45PM

Attorney General Eric Holder

Attorney General Eric Holder, after meeting with interfaith leaders this afternoon, released a statement this afternoon saying that anti-Muslim violence won't be tolerated.

"As the Attorney General has noted on previous occasions, violence against individuals or institutions based on religious bias is intolerable and the Department will bring anyone who commits such crimes to justice," spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

At the meeting, Miller said, "the Attorney General reiterated the Department's strong commitment to prosecuting hate crimes, and noted several successes the Department has achieved in recent months."

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