Thursday
Jun252009
Attorney General Holder Throws His Support Behind Hate Crime Legislation
Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 2:07PM
By Learned Foote- Talk Radio News Service
Attorney General Eric Holder urged Congress Thursday to pass the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, a bill that would expand the authority of the federal government to prosecute hate crimes, and include “gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability” in the protected classes.
“Perpetrators of hate crimes seek to deny the humanity that we all share, regardless of the color of our skin, the God to whom we pray, or the person who we choose to love,” said Holder during testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee
Holder noted that a similar bill reached Congress in 1998, but has never passed. “The legislation has been stalled far too long, and it’s time to act,” said committee chairman Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).
The bill is named after Matthew Shepard, a gay man from Wyoming who was brutally killed in 1998.
Several senators asked whether the legislation would violate the First Amendment, which protects free speech. Holder said that only crimes involving “bodily injury” fall under the scope of this legislation, and even the incitement of violence would not be prosecuted under the bill.
“We’re looking at people who actually commit physical acts of violence,” said Holder. “However deplorable ... speech with which I would vehemently disagree [is] not cognizable under the statute.”
Republican Senators repeatedly criticized Holder for not providing statistics or documenting a trend indicating that state and local authorities do not sufficiently address these crimes. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) noted that the Shepard murder was a “crime that should have been vigorously prosecuted, and it was.”
Holder responded that “what we’re looking for is an ability in those instances, those rare instances, where there is an inability or unwillingness by state or local jurisdiction to proceed, that the federal government...would be able to fill that gap.”
Sessions also expressed concern about “how [the U.S. is] picking and choosing the people who receive the extra protection” afforded by hate crime legislation. Holder replied that such laws should “protect groups of people who are ... the subjects of violence simply because of who they are.”
Attorney General Eric Holder urged Congress Thursday to pass the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, a bill that would expand the authority of the federal government to prosecute hate crimes, and include “gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability” in the protected classes.
“Perpetrators of hate crimes seek to deny the humanity that we all share, regardless of the color of our skin, the God to whom we pray, or the person who we choose to love,” said Holder during testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee
Holder noted that a similar bill reached Congress in 1998, but has never passed. “The legislation has been stalled far too long, and it’s time to act,” said committee chairman Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).
The bill is named after Matthew Shepard, a gay man from Wyoming who was brutally killed in 1998.
Several senators asked whether the legislation would violate the First Amendment, which protects free speech. Holder said that only crimes involving “bodily injury” fall under the scope of this legislation, and even the incitement of violence would not be prosecuted under the bill.
“We’re looking at people who actually commit physical acts of violence,” said Holder. “However deplorable ... speech with which I would vehemently disagree [is] not cognizable under the statute.”
Republican Senators repeatedly criticized Holder for not providing statistics or documenting a trend indicating that state and local authorities do not sufficiently address these crimes. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) noted that the Shepard murder was a “crime that should have been vigorously prosecuted, and it was.”
Holder responded that “what we’re looking for is an ability in those instances, those rare instances, where there is an inability or unwillingness by state or local jurisdiction to proceed, that the federal government...would be able to fill that gap.”
Sessions also expressed concern about “how [the U.S. is] picking and choosing the people who receive the extra protection” afforded by hate crime legislation. Holder replied that such laws should “protect groups of people who are ... the subjects of violence simply because of who they are.”
Von Brunn To Be Charged With Homicide, Possibly Hate Crimes
On Wednesday at 12:50 p.m., 88-year-old James Whittaker Von Brunn opened fire immediately upon entering the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. He shot and killed 39-year-old Stephen Tyrone Johns, a special police officer who died later that day.
Joseph Persichini, Assistant Director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, said that Von Brunn's act may be charged as a hate crime in addition to homicide. “We know what Mr. Von Brunn did yesterday at the Holocaust Museum,” he said during a press conference today. “Now it’s our responsibility to determine why he did it. We have to ask ourselves, did all these years of public display of hatred impact his actions?”
Johns had opened the door of the museum for Von Brunn, said Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of Police with the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. After Von Brunn shot Johns, other police officers standing near the entrance quickly returned fire. Washington, D.C. mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who also attended the press conference, acknowledged the heroism of law-enforcement officials. “Their efforts yesterday to bring this gunmen down literally saved the lives of countless people,” he said. “This could have been much, much worse.”
James Von Brunn remains in critical condition.
Persichini said that the FBI did not have an open investigation on Von Brunn at the time of the shooting. However, FBI investigators were aware of Von Brunn’s activities as an anti-Semite and a white supremacist.
“Law-enforcement’s challenge every day is to balance the civil liberties of the United States citizen against the need to investigate activities that might lead to criminal conduct,” Persichini said. He said that expressing opinions is not a crime, and that “many of these individuals are totally aware of what you can and cannot say in crossing the line which would initiate a domestic terrorism investigation.”
The FBI and MPD are continuing investigations of the crimes. As a convicted felon, Von Brunn could not legally possess a firearm, and Lanier said that law-enforcement officials would investigate as to how he obtained the weapon. Persichini said that any person who has information concerning Mr. Von Brunn should contact the FBI as soon as possible. “We will do everything possible, not only to stop Mr. Von Brunn, but the other Mr. Von Brunns that are around here in this nation today,” he said.
Mayor Fenty assured that “[The city] will get past this. The arrests have been made and the district remains an open, safe city for tourists and visitors.”