Leaving aside the value of hate crime legislation: I fail to see what earthly good it would do to charge the murderer with a hate crime in this case. "Hate crime" as a category is used as a sentence inflator; if you're charged with one, the penalty becomes more severe. First-degree murder, however, can't be inflated; a life sentence is as good as it gets. So what difference does it make? If the man is found guilty and sentenced, his reasons, such as they are, for doing so become part of the public record in any event.
Mind, if there's a chance that he gets bargained down to second-degree or manslaughter or some such, then, yes, in that case the hate-crimes charge becomes useful. (And assuming that the murderer pleads not guilty -- after all, what does he have to lose? -- then I would assume that plea-barganing would come into play.)
So, this is the number-one place in the country for lesbians to live, eh?
Copyright © 2001, Iain Jackson, after-words.org
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12/19/2001: vive la france
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