2 men who beat gay couple banned from downtown Philadelphia

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Two men accused of beating a gay couple on a Philadelphia street last year must stay out of downtown under a plea agreement that spares them prison time.

Philip Williams and Kevin Harrigan apologized as they pleaded guilty Thursday to assault and conspiracy charges. The 24-year-old Williams and 26-year-old Harrigan say the attack wasn't motivated by the couple's sexual orientation.

Harrigan was accused of using slurs to ask if the couple were gay. Zachary Hesse was then punched in the face; Andy Haught suffered a broken jaw and cheekbones.

Williams was banned from downtown Philadelphia for five years while on probation. Harrigan's ban is three years. Each will have to perform 200 hours of community service at an LGBT center.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/990aa3e19f5e4d8984893088b4f93da1/2-men-who-beat-gay-couple-banned-downtown-philadelphia

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Jail would have been better!

[jtuck004]

1. So now they can beat up others, just less chance of being seen. Learned

not to get caught, didn't ya?

[christx30]

9. This is a crippling blow to them.

Now they have to go all the way to the suburbs to beat up gay people. And with gas prices these days, and traffic the way it is at certain times of the day, it might not be worth the hassle.

Just a little sarcasm here. Seriously?! The punishment for a bigoted assault on two people is pretty much "And stay out of the Woolworths!" I could go out right now and push someone to the ground, with no physical injury and actually get some prison time.

A simple assault that results in minor injuries is usually a Class A misdemeanor under Texas law. A class A misdemeanor carries penalties of fines of up to $4000, and up to 1 year in jail. A simple assault that only involved threatening or touching is usually a Class C misdemeanor under Texas law.

Actually breaking someone's jaw? That should easily be aggravated assault.

Aggravated assault is an attempt to cause serious bodily injury to another or to cause serious bodily injury purposely, knowingly or recklessly, with an extreme indifference to the value of human life.

[SpankMe]

14. Woolworths? Man, you're dating yourself! n/t

[christx30]

20. It was a line from

'Oh brother where art thou'.
A very small, almost meaningless penalty for a very big crime. The extreme opposite of what usually happens, like 10 years in prison for possession of a joint.
Is that what criminal justice in this country now? Extremes? Haven't these judges heard about proportionality?

[japple]

21. Yep. Here it is.

[shenmue]

2. Yes

[frizzled]

3. They didn't even go to prison?! How is that acceptable?

nt

[bullwinkle428]

4. Horse-shit miscarriage of justice.

[Yavin4]

5. Banning someone from downtown Philadelphia is not a punishment

It's a favor.

[KamaAina]

13. Nice post, Jon Stewart!

[mike_c]

17. +1

eom

[Cassiopeia]

6. So beating someone is legal in Philly

You will just be banned from a small section of it for doing so.

WTF

[msongs]

7. well there goes their chance for careers as Philly police nt

[lakercub]

8. We can afford to

incarcerate tens of thousands of non-violent drug offenders (if not more), but we can't put actual violent criminals in prison? Our criminal justice system is so, so broken.

[justamama83]

10. The third person is awaiting trial.

The spoiled police chief's daughter is going to take her chances at trial. She's a real piece of work. Guess she's hoping her daddy will get her out of this mess-

[Hissyspit]

19. Apparently, he will, from the looks of things.

[marym625]

11. why send violent, hate crime offenders to jail?

It's only gay guys after all.
What a bunch of crap!

[irisblue]

12. I would be very interested in what the victims have to say about this.more info

http://www.epgn.com/news/local/9507-two-gay-bashing-suspects-accept-pleas-third-heads-to-trial


SNIP Harrigan pleaded guilty to simple assault and conspiracy and was sentenced to three years' reporting probation, 200 hours of community service to be carried out at an LGBT organization and restitution in the amount of $314. Williams pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy and was sentenced to five years' reporting probation, as well as 200 hours of community service to be carried out at an LGBT organization and restitution in the amount of $627. Both are also prohibited from entering Center City Philadelphia, defined as Washington to Girard avenues and from the Delaware to Schuylkill rivers throughout the duration of their probation. (those restitution amounts are bull shit my opinion)


SNIP Both had been charged with two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of simple assault, reckless endangerment and conspiracy. Had the case gone to trial, one charge of aggravated assault without serious bodily injury is a felony that is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and simple assault is a misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison



SNIP After the plea deals were announced, prosecutor Mike Barry addressed the court on behalf of Haught and Hesse, who he said were satisfied with the negotiated offers, which were first proposed to the defendants in July.

"This resolution is the wish of the complainants," Barry told the court and Common Pleas Judge Frank Palumbo, who presided. "Their wish was for this to be over. They wanted to have this resolved and send a message to the city."

[Jim Lane]

22. Per your link, the victims favor this resolution of the case.

They've probably decided that the satisfaction of seeing the perps in jail wasn't worth the stress of having to testify at a criminal trial. Nevertheless, they're being more forgiving and charitable than I would be in their shoes.

Another possibility is that, despite what the prosecutor said about closure, the victims might be planning to bring a civil case against their attackers. If so, the guilty plea will bar the defendants from contesting liability. Any civil case could proceed directly to the question of assessing how much they should pay in damages.

[BumRushDaShow]

23. On the local news here in Philly

the victims (through their lawyer) said that due to the trauma of the whole incident, they were trying to avoid having to go through a tortuous trial, basically recreating what happened to them, so they supported the guilty pleas and settlement of 2 of the defendents. However since the 3rd (female) suspect refused a plea deal and opted for a trial, the victims will have to deal with this all over again through a trial (although I have seen cases where during jury selection just before a trial starts, a new plea deal is reached). From what they reported, one of the victims had to have his jaw wired shut for 2 months with only a liquid diet, so I can understand where you just want to end the madness and try to get on with life.

[Geronimoe]

15. Why isn't this considered a hate crime?

[BumRushDaShow]

25. The current PA law does not consider LGBT eligible for "Hate Crime" protection

Pennsylvania law defines ethnic-intimidation offenses as crimes motivated by "malicious intention toward the race, color, religion or national origin" of a person or group.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Pa_law_Center_City_assault_on_gay_men_not_a_hate_crime.html

They tried to expand it include sexual orientation/gender-bias crimes, but that was struck down by the state Supreme Court -

Pennsylvania law was amended in 2002 to include sexual orientation (as well as gender identity and physical or mental disability) in the ethnic-intimidation statute, but the state Supreme Court struck down the expansion in 2008 on procedural grounds.

The court said legislators had unlawfully inserted the hate-crime amendment into an unrelated bill regarding agricultural terrorism.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Pa_law_Center_City_assault_on_gay_men_not_a_hate_crime.html

Current legislation to re-expand it has languished in the repuke legislature... Although the hope is that with this case and the recent killing of a transgender woman (although "robbery" was the purported motive), maybe it can move again (and with a Dem Governor, he would easily sign it). One of our city Council reps also asked the Feds to investigate to determine if it could qualify as a federal Hate Crime.

[SpankMe]

16. 200 hours of community service at an LGBT organization, huh?

I'd like these guys to have to serve one year of "service" as make-up artist and boom microphone holder for a gay porn production company. If they dislike "teh ghey" so much, then they should be forced to experience as much exposure to "the lifestyle" as possible.

And I fail to see any link between the crime and downtown Philly. This seems arbitrary to me. It's like "you sexually assaulted a child in a grocery store; you are therefore banned from grocery stores for 3 years".

What?

[mike_c]

18. I think the sentence is much better than a jail term....

I know this won't be a popular opinion, but there it is. Jail is blind punishment, plain and simple. I'm sure many folks think punishment is warranted, but I'd rather see a sentence that contains a kernal of rehabilitation and at least the opportunity to learn why their behavior was wrong. As noted up thread, being banned from central Philadelphia isn't necessarily harsh punishment, and the restitution was indeed bullshit. But the community service and reporting probation will give these men a chance to learn empathy for people whom they previously understood only as derogatory stereotypes. A gay probation officer would add another nice touch. Sitting in a cell, however unpleasant, won't offer them any opportunities for positive change. That's the central problem with much of the justice system in this country-- its focus is upon delivering retribution rather than opportunities for rehabilitation and positive change. No one really benefits from that approach. Even the victims were apparently satisfied with this sentence.

[Bossy Monkey]

24. So you're saying they're white... n/t