Black College Student, Friend Charged With Hate Crime For Burning Trump Sign

[DonViejo]

Source: Talking Points Memo



By ALLEGRA KIRKLAND Published APRIL 20, 2017 1:01 PM

Like most states, Maryland’s hate crime statutes protect against discrimination based on race, color, religious beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, disability and national origin. A local police officer recently took it upon himself to add another category to that list of protected classes: Trump voters.

D’Asia Perry and Joy Shuford, 19-year-old friends, were charged Tuesday with a slew of crimes including second-degree arson, trespassing, and committing a hate crime for setting fire to a large Donald Trump billboard displayed near a family sporting goods store run.

In the charging documents, Princess Anne Police Sgt. Robert Smith laid out his justification for the hate crime charge: “The intentional burning of these political signs, along with the beliefs, religious views and race of this political affiliation, directly coincides with the victim.”

Smith’s explanation suggests that those who share the sporting goods store owner Robert Wink’s “political affiliation” as a Trump-voting Republican all have the same “beliefs, religious views and race.” Wink is white, and Perry and Shuford are black.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/dasia-perry-joy-shuford-charged-hate-crime-burning-trump-sign

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Must be "hate" for tRump's disability: increasing signs of dementia / Alzheimer's

Police Sgt's charging justifications do not hold water.

They'd have more luck convicting on simple arson.

[dalton99a]

2. It's really lese-majeste

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. A sign? I don't think that's going to hold up once the district attorney looks at it. NT

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Criminal mischief maximum, but not a

Hate crime.

[msongs]

5. primary duty of police is putting more people in privatized jails. more charges means more jail time

[lark]

6. It's getting worse and worse.

And we are not even nearly to the end of the harm that will be caused by this most racist and hate filled of any administration, ever.

[4139]

7. Next it will be Terrorism.... I'm not joking

Jeff Sessions would do it

[50 Shades Of Blue]

8. That better not stand!

[elleng]

16. I suspect it won't stand.

[PoliticAverse]

23. Assuming they have a decent lawyer it won't. n/t

[Initech]

9. Hate crime charges? WTF!!!!

[Thomas Hurt]

10. No one may sass the King!

Bend thy knee and genuflect before King Donald I,
by divine right of kings, no one may sass him
harsh words may sting the royal ears and feeweeings
requiring a foot rub and a defenestration.

[maxrandb]

11. So we were right all along

ReTrumplicanism is a race

[Dr. Strange]

13. Orange Lives Matter

[IronLionZion]

12. Shooting and killing minorities is not called anything and quickly forgotton

The hate crime charge is BS, but I can't support destruction of property. Trumpers have the first amendment just like us.

[tazkcmo]

14. Then I'm guilty too

I truly hate that POS.

[muntrv]

15. Cheeto Lives Matter?

[oldcynic]

17. is Kristalnacht next? n/t

[Javaman]

18. good thing he didn't burn the flag.

I doubt he'd still be alive.

[keithbvadu2]

19. What about bullseye targets with pictures of Obama and Hillary sold at gun shows?

[SunSeeker]

20. What that Sgt. Smith did to those two men is a hate crime.

Does anyone think the cop would have charged them with a hate crime if they were white?

[sinkingfeeling]

21. Where were the hate crime charges when white people displayed

hanging Obama?

[onetexan]

22. time for ACLU to help

[vkkv]

24. Aw, poor wingnut SNOWFLAKES !!

[nikibatts]

25. There is no doubt that democracy and freedom is dead in this USA

[Judi Lynn]

26. No reason to disguise race hatred any longer, with Trump's malignant blessings. n/t

[Princess Turandot]

27. *** They've dropped the hate crime charge already...

per the Baltimore Sun:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-trump-sign-folo-20170420-story.html

[Vinca]

28. Unlikely that will hold up in court. It's vandalism and that's about it.

[Rhiannon12866]

29. Not only bizarre, but exactly where is the sign even singed??

Link to tweet

[onenote]

30. Its pretty clearly been damaged

If you click on the tweet, the larger version of the picture shows that it was damaged. The hate crime and arson charges were dropped (and should never have been filed in the first place). But there's no reason to defend the actions of anyone attempting to damage anyone's campaign signs on private property.

[Rhiannon12866]

33. I looked at the photo on the original Baltimore Sun site

Tried to post that photo, but couldn't manage it, so I found the Tweet of the original story which included the photo. I agree that we shouldn't be hypocritical about whose signs they are, we certainly don't approve of the RWers stealing Democratic signs, but I could only see that edge was damaged - and I had to look closely...


http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-trump-sign-folo-20170420-story.html

[GoneOffShore]

31. Hate crime and 2nd degree arson charges were dismissed.

UPDATE 9 (from the link)1:37 p.m.: Princess Anne Police Chief Tim Bozman announced Thursday that the hate crime and second-degree arson charges against D’Asia Perry and Joy Shuford were dismissed after their case was called in Maryland District Court. Bozman said the dismissal was a joint decision made by the police department and Somerset County State’s Attorney’s Office, and said the other charges will be scheduled for trial “at a later date.”

[BlueStater]

32. Hate crime? Seriously?

So bigoted, racist, sexist morons are now a protected minority?