Texas Man Sentenced To 37 Years in Muslim Hate Crime Murder

A Department of Justice press release reports that yesterday a Texas federal district court sentenced a defendant to 37 years in prison (with credit for time served before sentencing) for a mass shooting at a Dallas car repair business. Thirty-nine year old Anthony Paz Torres had pleaded guilty to five federal hate crime counts. DOJ explains:

 According to court documents, Torres admitted that a few days prior to the shooting, he went to Omar’s Wheels and Tires, made anti-Muslim comments, and pledged that he would come back. When he returned to the business on Dec. 24, 2015, Torres asked customers if they were Muslim. After being escorted back to his vehicle by Omar’s Wheels and Tires employees, Torres discharged his firearm in the direction of multiple employees and customers. Torres admitted that he killed one person and attempted to kill four other people at Omar’s Wheels and Tires because he believed that they were Muslim. 

Man Sentenced To 1 Year + For Threatening Synagogue Shooting

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Michigan, on Monday a 20-year old Michigan man was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison, 3 years of supervised release and restitution payment of $10,648 for sending numerous Instagram messages threatening a mass shooting at an East Lansing, MI synagogue. Notes on defendant's cell phone indicated that he planned to commit suicide after the mass shooting.

New Jersey Man Pleads Guilty to Hate Crimes Against 5 Orthodox Jews

In a Feb. 1 press release, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the district of New Jersey announced that 29-year old Dion Marsh has pleaded guilty to violations of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and to a count of carjacking for his assault on 5 men on April 8, 2022.  According to a statement by the U.S. Attorney:

This defendant violently attacked five men, driving a car into four of them, stabbing one of them in the chest, and attempting to kill them, simply because they were visibly identifiable as Orthodox Jews....

Sentencing is set for June 11.

President Issues Statement On Transgender Day of Remembrance

The White House today issued a Statement from President Joe Biden on Transgender Day of Remembrance (full text). The President said in part:

There is no place for hate in America and no one should be discriminated against simply for being themselves. Today, on Transgender Day of Remembrance we are reminded that there is more to do meet that promise, as we grieve the 26 transgender Americans whose lives were taken this year. While each one of these deaths is a tragedy – the true toll of those victimized is likely even higher, with the majority of those targeted being women of color.

Michigan Passes Institutional Desecration Ban

 Last week, the Michigan legislature gave final passage to HB 4476 (full text) (legislative history) which creates the crime of "institutional desecration." A person is guilty of the crime if the person:

maliciously and intentionally destroys, damages, defaces, or vandalizes, or makes a true threat to destroy, damage, deface, or vandalize ... because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, physical or mental disability, age, ethnicity, or national origin of another individual or group of individuals....

any religious building, educational institution, library, museum, community center, campground, cemetery, business or charitable institution.  The bill now goes to Governor Whitmer for her signature. Michigan Radio reports on the bill's passage.

FBI Releases 2022 Hate Crime Statistics

The FBI yesterday released 2022 Crime Statistics, including data on hate crimes (Methodology)  (Data on Incidents). According to the FBI:

In 2022, law enforcement agency participation significantly increased ... with a population coverage of 91.7% submitting incident reports.... There were over 11,000 single-bias hate crime incidents.... [T]he top three bias categories ... were race/ethnicity/ancestry, religion, and sexual-orientation.

The FBI reported 2,042 incidents of religiously-motivated hate crimes. 1,122 of these were anti-Jewish. The next most numerous were 181 anti-Sikh incidents; 158 anti-Muslim and 107 anti-Catholic. President Biden issued a Statement (full text) on the Hate Crime Statistics, saying in part:

The data is a reminder that hate never goes away, it only hides. Any hate crime is a stain on the soul of America.

To those Americans worried about violence at home, as a result of the evil acts of terror perpetrated by Hamas in Israel, we see you. We hear you. And I have asked members of my team ... to prioritize the prevention and disruption of any emerging threats that could harm Jewish, Muslim, Arab American, or any other communities during this time. My Administration will continue to fight Antisemitism and Islamophobia.

Florida Enacts Ban on Religious and Ethnic Intimidation

NBC News reports that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, while in Israel, signed CS/CS/HB269 a bill (full text) that amends Florida's Public Nuisances law to prohibit threats and intimidation of various sorts. Among the provisions added by the new law is the following:

A person may not willfully and maliciously harass or intimidate another person based on the person's wearing or displaying of any indicia relating to any religious or ethnic heritage.

The law provides for enhanced sanctions if a person "in the course of committing the violation makes a credible threat to the person who is the subject of the harassment or intimidation...."

New York Governor Announces Steps to Combat Hate Crimes

Earlier this week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a number of steps to combat hate crimes. On Nov. 22, the Governor signed A1202 (full text) which makes mandatory rather than just permissive the requirement that sentences for hate crimes include an appropriate program, training session, or counseling session directed at hate crime prevention and education. She also signed A5913A (full text) which requires the state Division of Human Rights to develop and implement a campaign to promote acceptance, inclusion and tolerance of the state's diverse population with the purpose of combatting bias, hatred and discrimination based on religion, race, color, creed, sex, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression. She also announced plans for a Unity Summit and emphasized grant funding available to strengthen safety measures to protect against hate crimes.

Indictment Handed Down in 2018 Shooting of Jehovah's Witness Building

The Justice Department announced yesterday that a federal grand jury in Seattle, Washington has indicted Mikey Diamond Starrett, aka Michael Jason Layes, on one count of damaging religious property and one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence. According to the indictment, in May 2018 Starrett used a semi-automatic rifle to damage the Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall of Yelm, Washington because of its religious character. He had also previously been charged with possession of an unregistered firearm.  If convicted, he faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison on the charge of damaging religious property, plus up to ten years on the other charges. Last September, in U.S. v. Layes, (WD WA, Sept. 14, 2021), a federal magistrate judge ordered Starrett to be held in pre-trial detention.

White House Hosts Summit Addressing Hate-Motivated Violence

Yesterday President Biden hosted the United We Stand Summit at the White House directed at countering hate-motivated violence. The President spoke at the Summit for nearly 25 minutes (full text of remarks), calling on Congress to pass budget increases to protect nonprofits and houses of worship from hate-fueled violence, and to pass legislation to hold social media platforms accountable for spreading hate-fueled violence. He said in part:

There is a through-line of hate from massacres of Indigenous people, to the original sin of slavery, the terror of the Klan, to ... anti-immigration violence against the Irish, Italians, Chinese, Mexicans, and so many others laced throughout our history.

There is a through-line of violence against religious groups: antisemitic, anti-Catholic, anti-Mormon, anti-Muslim, anti-Hindu, anti-Sikh.

Look, folks, and that through-line of hate never fully goes away.  It only hides.

The White House also issued a Fact Sheet on the Summit, announcing a number of new government and private initiatives to address hate-fueled violence. Several clergy were among the "Uniters" honored at the Summit.

Data On Canadian Hate Crimes Released

On Aug. 2, Statistics Canada released Police-reported crime statistics in Canada, 2021. One section (Text Box 5) focuses on hate crimes and says in part:

The number of police-reported hate crimes in Canada increased by 27% in 2021, rising from 2,646 incidents to 3,360.... From 2020 to 2021, increases were noted in the number of police-reported hate crimes targeting religion (+354 incidents, +67%).... 

Police-reported hate crimes targeting the Jewish (+47%), Muslim (+71%) and Catholic (+260%) religions were up. The increase in hate crimes targeting the Muslim population follows a similar decrease in 2020; the increase also occurred in the same year as an attack in London, Ontario which targeted a Muslim family and resulted in four homicides and one attempted homicide.... In 2021, there were discoveries of unmarked graves on former residential school sites. Following these discoveries, there were reports of hate incidents targeting the Indigenous population as well as churches and other religious institutions....

JNS reports on the data.

NY AG Orders Anti-Muslim Group To Stop Spying On The Muslim Community

 In an April 1 press release, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that the office's Civil Right Bureau has sent a Cease and Desist Notification (full text) to an "anti-Muslim hate group" warning it to stop its discriminatory surveillance of the Muslim community. The Notification says in part:

The New York State Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has reviewed reports alleging that your organization, the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT), used paid informants and infiltrators to spy on Muslim houses of worship, Muslim advocacy groups, and prominent Muslim leaders. You are advised that such conduct could violate the New York Civil Rights Law and other state and federal laws. You are hereby instructed to cease and desist any ongoing or contemplated unlawful espionage operations against Muslims and Muslim organizations within the State of New York. Discrimination has no place in New York. The OAG will use every tool at its disposal to protect Muslim New Yorkers against unlawful intimidation campaigns.

[Thanks to Eugene Volokh via Religionlaw for the lead.]

FBI Releases Hate Crime Statistics For 2020

Yesterday the FBI released its report on Hate Crime Statistics 2020. According to the FBI:

There were 7,554 single-bias incidents involving 10,528 victims. A percent distribution of victims by bias type shows that 61.9% of victims were targeted because of the offenders’ race/ethnicity/ancestry bias, 20.5% were victimized because of the offenders’ sexual-orientation bias, 13.4% were targeted because of the offenders’ religious bias, 2.5% were targeted because of the offenders’ gender identity bias, 1% were victimized because of the offenders’ disability bias, and 0.7% were victimized because of the offenders’ gender bias.

There were 205 multiple-bias hate crime incidents that involved 333 victims.

In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in part:

Last year saw a 6.1% increase in hate crime reports, and in particular, hate crimes motivated by race, ethnicity and ancestry, and by gender identity. These numbers confirm what we have already seen and heard from communities, advocates and law enforcement agencies around the country. And these numbers do not account for the many hate crimes that go unreported.

CNBC reports on the data.

Conviction and Sentence of Mother Emanuel Church Shooter Uphehld

In United States v. Roof, (4th Cir., Aug. 25, 2021), the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 149-page opinion, affirmed the hate crime and obstructing religion convictions of Dylan Roof who shot and killed nine members of Charleston, South Carolina's Mother Emanuel Church who were attending a Bible study group. Roof's attorneys raised 19 separate issues on appeal. The court concluded that proof of religious hostility is not required for a conviction under the religious obstruction statute, 18 USC § 247(a)(2). It also concluded that Congress did not exceed its powers under the 13th Amendment when it enacted the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, 18 U.S.C. § 249. The court also upheld the death sentence imposed, saying in part:

No cold record or careful parsing of statutes and precedents can capture the full horror of what Roof did. His crimes qualify him for the harshest penalty that a just society can impose. We have reached that conclusion not as a product of emotion but through a thorough analytical process, which we have endeavored to detail here. In this, we have followed the example of the trial judge, who managed this difficult case with skill and compassion for all concerned, including Roof himself.

ABC reports on the decision.                       

DOJ Reports On 15 Years Of Hate Crime Prosecutions

Last month (July 8), the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics issued a 15-page report titled Federal Hate Crime Prosecutions, 2005–19 (full text). A press release summarizing the report said in part:

U.S. attorneys declined to prosecute 82% of suspects, prosecuted 17% and disposed of 1% for prosecution by U.S. magistrates. Insufficient evidence was the most common reason hate crime matters were declined for prosecution.

Among the 310 defendants adjudicated in U.S. district court for hate crime violations during 2005-19, more than 9 in 10 defendants (284) were convicted. About 85% (240) of those convicted of a hate crime were sentenced to prison, with an average term of over 7.5 years. About 14% (39) were sentenced to probation only, and 1% (4) received a suspended sentence. Forty percent of the convictions for hate crimes during 2005-19 occurred in federal judicial districts in six states: New York (30), California (26), Texas (19), Arkansas (15), Tennessee (13) and Pennsylvania (12).

This week, the Los Angeles Blade reported on the data.

Pennsylvania Man Sentenced For Online Threats To Jewish Community

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced yesterday that a 32 year old Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to 18-months in prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transmission of threats to injure another person. According to the press release:

[Corbin]  Kauffman posted a digitally-created image of his own arm and hand aiming an AR-15 rifle at a congregation of praying Jewish men, gathered in a synagogue.  The threatening image came in the wake of the October 27, 2018 mass-shooting at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.....  On the same day ..., Kauffman also shared a video of the Tree of Life shooting, as well as another post in support of the shooter [and] ... also posted multiple references to “hate crimes” and a photograph of vandalism he committed by defacing a display case at the Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Center in Ocean City, Maryland, with white supremacist and anti-Semitic stickers.

President Signs COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act

Yesterday, President Biden signed into law S.937, COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. (full text). While the impetus for the bill was the increase in hate crimes against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, the Act's provisions ramp up enforcement efforts relating to a broader group of hate crimes, including crimes committed because of the victim's religion. Among the Act's provisions are the following:

(1) Expedited review of hate crimes by the Justice Department during the next year.

(2) Justice Department must issue new guidance to states and localities on how to create online reporting of hate crimes and expand public education campaigns.

(3) Grants to states and local governments to assist in reporting of hate crimes to the National Incident-Based Reporting System.

(4) Grants for state-run Hate-Crime Hot Lines.

(5) Grants for law enforcement activities or crime reduction programs to respond to hate crimes.

(6) Justice Department must provide an annual report to Congress on the incidence of hate crimes.

(7) New provision on sentencing for hate crimes. If court imposes a term of supervised release after imprisonment, the court may order defendant to take classes or provide community service directly related to the community harmed by the defendant's offense.

ISIS Supporter Pleads Guilty To Planning Ohio Synagogue Attack

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio announced that yesterday Damon M. Joseph, aka Abdullah Ali Yusuf, pleaded guilty today to attempting to commit a hate crime by planning an ISIS-inspired attack on a synagogue in the Toledo, Ohio area. He also pleaded guilty to providing material support to ISIS and the Islamic State of Iraq. According to the Cleveland Jewish News, a preliminary plea agreement provides for a 20-year prison sentence for Joseph.

Scottish Parliament Passes Hate Crime Bill

According to BBC News, the Scottish Parliament last week passed the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill (full text). Among other things, the new law (§3(2)) outlaws threatening or abusive behavior or communications made with the intent to stir up hatred against a group based on its religion or perceived religious affiliation, or based on the group's sexual orientation or transgender identity. It goes on to provide (§9A), however,:

... [B]ehaviour or material is not to be taken to be threatening or abusive solely on the basis that it involves or includes—

(a) discussion or criticism of matters relating to—(i) age, (ii) disability, (iii) sexual orientation, (iv) transgender identity,(v) variations in sex characteristics,

(b) discussion or criticism relating to, or expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule or insult towards— (i) religion, whether religions generally or a particular religion, (ii) religious beliefs or practices, whether religious beliefs or practices generally or a particular religious belief or practice, (iii) the position of not holding religious beliefs, whether religious beliefs generally or a particular religious belief,

(c) proselytising, or

(d) urging of persons to cease practising their religion.

The bill (§16) also abolishes the common law offense of blasphemy.

FBI Releases 2019 Hate Crime Statistics

This week, the FBI released its 2019 Hate Crime Statistics. According to the Report, of the 7,103 single-bias incidents, 19.9% of the offenses, and 21.4% of the incidents, were motivated by religious bias. Of the offenses motivated by religious bias:  60.3% were anti-Jewish; 13.3% percent were anti-Islamic (Muslim); 4.0% were anti-Catholic; 3.6% were anti-Other Christian; 3.0% were anti-Sikh; 2.8% were anti-Eastern Orthodox (Russian, Greek, Other); 2.5 percent were anti-multiple religions; 1.5% were anti-Protestant; 0.8% were anti-Mormon; 0.4% were anti-Hindu; 0.4% were anti-Jehovah’s Witness; 0.4% were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism; 0.3% were anti-Buddhist. The prior year's report showed 20.2% of the offenses motivated by religious bias. (See prior posting.) ADL issued a press release commenting on the Report, as did Muslim Advocates.