Quote:
Originally Posted by Happy Monkey
Courts have had methods to determine motive long before hate crime legislation appeared. It's part of the distiction between various degrees of murder and manslaughter. It's part of the definition of libel. And now it can determine whether something is a hate crime or not. There's nothing legally novel here.
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Novel or not, it gives the DA to much discretion. See my last post. Unless the guilty party clearly states it was a hate crime, I don't trust anybody guessing. You know damn well they will use the threat of escalation to hate crime to force plea bargains. Plead guilty to something you didn't do and get 4 years or we'll go for the death penalty which automatically prejudices the jury. Wow, they are going for the death penalty he really must be a bad guy.