Confusion over Jury Charge Causes Reversal in New York Hate Crime Conviction

Jury confusion about how to deal with a defendant charged under New York’s hate crime statute has resulted in an appellate ruling setting aside the guilty verdict in hate crime homicide as “inconsistent” in People of New York v. Delee, 2013 WL 3766913 (Appellate Division, 4th Dep’t., July 19, 2013). 

Dwight R. Delee shot and killed a victim identified by the court as “a young man who dressed as a woman and was known … <Read More>


Federal Court Addresses How to Charge Juries in Federal Hate Crimes Cases

U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove (E.D. Ky.) recently conducted a trial of several members of the Jenkins family who were charge with kidnapping and beating Kevin Pennington, a gay man, because of his sexual orientation.  Two members of the family, women, had pled guilty to lesser charges of assisting in commission of the crimes, but Jason and Anthony Jenkins, who performed the physical assault on Pennington, went to trial, and the court had … <Read More>