Wisconsin Won't Charge Suspect With Hate Crime After Knocking Gay Man Unconscious

[cali]

What's worse — the fact that Wisconsin won't charge a man with a hate crime after he screamed an antigay slur at an Applebee's employee before beating him over the head with a piece of lumber, or that Applebee's continues to employ the suspect's wife even though she drove her husband to the crime scene and watched as her coworker was rendered unconscious?

Applebee's server Timothy Phares was brutally beaten March 17, and a witness backs up that it was Rien Hendricks who got out of a car and hit him with a 2-by-4 piece of wood, knocking him out; Phares will need metal plates inserted into his face to ensure proper healing.

As Hendricks was getting out of his vehicle, he said, "Fucking faggot, I’m going to kill you," according to Phares. After the attack, Hendricks was taken into custody and "charged with substantial battery intended to inflict bodily harm, a Class 1 felony. He faces a $10,000 fine and a much as three and a half years in prison," according to the Wisconsin Gazette. Even with Hendricks yelling the slur, Barron County district attorney Angela Beranek says there is not enough evidence to charge him with hate-crime enhancements.

Management at the Applebee's restaurant where Phares works with Hendricks's wife later told Phares he shouldn't return to his job because of the publicity. Greg Flynn, CEO of Apple American Group franchise, intervened on his behalf and reversed the firing. Phares's appreciation was short-lived, as Applebee's refused to remove antigay slurs from its Facebook page or fire Shannon Hendricks, the wife of the suspect.

<snip>

http://www.advocate.com/crime/2013/04/03/wisconsin-wont-charge-suspect-hate-crime-after-knocking-gay-man-unconscious

[Niceguy1]

1. if tbe wife

Didnt commit a crime why should she be fired? Simply because she married a jerk?

[Sharpie]

3. You could make a case...

... For her to be charged as she drove him there, possibly for the sole purpose of the attack.

As it stands though she has not been charged.

[Niceguy1]

5. she she may not have known

I would give her the benefit of the doubt unless proven otherwise.

[Sharpie]

7. In any case she hasn't been charged so it's moot...

[UnrepentantLiberal]

11. So who were you before you were PPR'd?

[Niceguy1]

15. for not

Prejudging a person who hasn't even been charged?

Please.

[Comrade Grumpy]

24. What is the point of this post?

[HangOnKids]

27. The Point Is Pretty Clear

Why do you care?

[el_bryanto]

16. She knows now. And that Applebees is standing behind her and her bigot husband

rather than by the employee that got beaten up. I don't know if there should be charges brought up against her, but there is definitely something wrong with that Applebees.

Bryant

[Niceguy1]

18. if she had nothing to do with

It then they should not fire her....

Maybe she is a victim of her jerk of a husband, too.

[el_bryanto]

19. What about the bigoted comments at the facebook page, referenced in the article? nt

[Niceguy1]

20. did she make them?

I was reffering to the calls for her to be fired for a non work involved incident of which she is nor a suspect.

Nowhere have I defended the sideshow going on on facebook.

[el_bryanto]

21. She isn't on trial

Of course she could be completely innocent. But evidence suggests that she isn't.

1. She drove her husband, a crazed bigot, to the crime scene.
2. She works for an business that has anti-gay messages on its face book page.
3. She works for a company that tried to punish the victim of a beating for being gay, by firing him.

Take those facts together, and you can see the environment this woman lives in - she has a bigot husband and works for a bigot restaurant. It's possible that she is completely untainted by this; that she's pure as the driven snow. And it's possible that sewer fish are delicious and nutritious.

I'm not holding my breath in either case.

But you can take some comfort in the fact that my disapproval comes with no real consequences; I can't fire her and I can't arrest her.

Bryant

[Sharpie]

2. Well...

According to the article ...

according to Barron County District Attorney Angela Beranek. She said Wisconsin law requires evidence that a crime was committed wholly or in part due to the perceived sexual orientation of the victim in order to attach a hate-crime enhancement to the charges.

IOW they are framing it as an attack on a man who happens to be gay and not as an attack because he is gay.

[cali]

4. according to the article

the man called him a "fucking faggot". gee, think that's a clue?

[Sharpie]

6. It's a clue but it isn't proof...

That doesn't prove that he attacked the man because he is gay. Especially, when there is evidence that it was for other reasons (earlier disagreement at a party.)

Hate crime laws are not there to increase the penalty for anyone who attacks someone who turns out to be within a protected class. They are there to increase the penalty for someone who targets that class specifically and as a threat to others within it.

[cali]

8. and that is NOT even close to how the legal system works

Jaysus. You actually believe that law enforcement needs proof to bring charges? Lord love a duck.

And you're wrong about the hate crimes law in Wisconsin, as well.

[Sharpie]

12. Take up your legal interpretation with the DA...

... Who I quoted.

[Kingofalldems]

23. I love that story

[Sharpie]

25. Which one is that?

[Kingofalldems]

26. The 'it's a clue' story.

[HangOnKids]

28. I Love It Too

This thread has some interesting characters in it!

[Demo_Chris]

10. It's a clue there might be more to the story

If I get into a fight with a black guy and he yells, "I am gonna beat your ass whitey!" before doing just that, it doesn't make it a hate crime. It's only a hate crime if he decided to kick my ass because of my race.

In this case here we don't know what was going on -- at least not from this article -- but the prosecutor apparently feels that she does.

http://www.wisconsingazette.com/wisconsin-gaze/applebees-employee-gay-bashed-by-husband-of-co-worker-says-he-was-told-not-to-return-to-work-due-to-bad-publicity.html

[UnrepentantLiberal]

13. Welcome to DU.

These kinds of threads are like fly paper.

[Sharpie]

14. Noted...

[Scuba]

9. Sadly, half of my state will support the attacker.

[alcibiades_mystery]

17. Horrible. Also, the headline literally ays that Wisconsin knocked a gay man unconscious

Grammar counts.

But still, a hate crime charge seems obvious here. What's up with the DA? Usually, these guys pile up absurd charge upon absurd charge. In this case, they refuse to charge on the obvious?

[Bluenorthwest]

22. Aplebee's stinks so it will be very easy to boycott them for all time

nt

[Ikonoklast]

29. Yeah, ate there once, years ago.

Ugh.



Once was enough.

[Zorra]

30. I wonder why he wasn't charged with premeditated atempted murder?

He announced his intent to murder Phares.