Hate Crime Alert: Ohio Man Gets 20 Years In Prison For Setting Prayer Mat On Fire In Mosque

Okay, let's be clear here - #1: an Ohio man set a Muslim prayer mat on fire inside of an Ohio mosque and is sentenced to 20 years in prison under hate crime laws.

#2:  Ohio man who killed a husband and wife on their anniversary was sentenced to 10 years in prison - no hate crime here, folks.  (Link to story)

Unreal.

The story comes from The Star via The Religion of Peace.

Arson at Ohio mosque nets US man 20 years in prison

CHICAGO: A US man who set fire to a prayer rug in an Ohio mosque was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to hate crime charges, officials said Tuesday.

"Hate crimes like this seek to damage more than buildings, they take aim at our American way of life," Steven Dettelbach, US Attorney for the northern district of Ohio, said in a statement.

"But today's 20-year prison sentence and the coming together of this community to support our Muslim neighbors show that our freedoms are stronger and more resilient than this man's hatred."

Randolph Linn, 52, admitted to leaving his home in Indiana and driving to the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo with the intent to damage a Muslim house of worship on September 30.

He loaded his red Chevy Sonic up with "numerous firearms and three red gas cans" and tried several times to get into the center before he finally managed to break in, prosecutors said.

Linn admitted to walking through several rooms with a handgun in his left hand before stepping back outside to grab a red gas can. He then poured the gasoline over a large rug in the prayer room and set fire to it.

As part of the plea deal, Linn agreed to pay for the water and fire damage to the center, which could exceed $1 million.

Prayer services resumed at the center on March 15 even though the restoration is not yet complete, the Islamic Center said in a notice on its website. - AFP

Police In California Are Now Treating Burned Qur'an Case As A Hate Crime

Give me a damn break. This story came out a few days ago but it's now been updated in the police eyes as a "hate crime." Burning a Qur'an is now a hate crime?!!! WTF?

From CBS2:

Police say they are investigating a burnt Quran found outside an Orange County mosque as a hate crime.

The Orange County Register reported Friday that Costa Mesa police Sgt. Phil Meyers said elements of the incident have led authorities to believe it was a crime of hate. A congregant of the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County found the torched Quran in the parking lot on New Year's Day. The incident upset congregants who gasped when they saw the burned book.

Okay, before I blow a gasket here, let me just say that this whole incident, in my view, is bogus as hell. This member of this mosque just happens upon a burned Qur'an in the mosque parking lot ...while everyone else is inside, of course...so he runs into the mosque and delivers the scorched word of the moongod to the imam in front of the whole "congregation" and of course, they all groan and moan and scream in anguish. I'd say that Haji pretty much burned the damn thing himself and decided to get the whole place all riled up, don't you?

But, looking past that...what does this all mean? If burning a Qur'an is a hate crime, then what does it mean to place a Crucifix in a vile of human urine? Oh, I forgot, that's "art." So let me ask the question...can I go into a bookstore, buy a Qur'an, sit on my front porch and burn said Qur'an or will the police come arrest me? Let me ask another question - if an islamist in Dearborn, Michigan joined a protest in the middle of main street and proceeded to burn a Holy Bible for all to see, do you think he'd be arrested for a hate crime?

I, personally, detest the very invention of "hate crime." I'm of belief that crime is crime - it is a violation of laws on the books. If I burn a Qur'an, how can you possibly prove that I did it out of "hate" ? If I'm a white man and walk into a convenience store and shoot dead the Hispanic clerk and don't take a thing from the store, did I kill out of hate? Who gives a shit. I broke the law of murdering or manslaughtering a human being. That's my crime and I face the punishment.

Part of the freedoms in this country are not to be criminalized for expression - if I want to burn a U.S. flag, I can do that. If I want to burn a Qur'an, I can do that. If I want to paint a swastika, I can do that. If I burn a cross on another man's property, I've committed a crime of endangerment and trespassing. If I paint a swastika on a community center wall, I'm guilty of vandalism and trespassing. But the islamists will push this hate crime issue to the limit...it is, after all, part of the soft jihad in America which is hellbent on altering the freedoms of Americans in regards to the treatment of muslims.

What's next? If I draw a cartoon of Mohammed fucking a goat in my notebook at college, I'll be arrested for a hate crime?

Police Probe Burned Quran At Mosque As Hate Crime

COSTA MESA, Calif. (AP) Police say they are investigating a burnt Quran found outside an Orange County mosque as a hate crime.

The Orange County Register reported Friday that Costa Mesa police Sgt. Phil Meyers said elements of the incident have led authorities to believe it was a crime of hate.

A congregant of the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County found the torched Quran in the parking lot on New Year's Day. The incident upset congregants who gasped when they saw the burned book.

That same day, the Muslim component of a holiday display was defaced in the Orange County city of Mission Viejo. Authorities do not believe the two incidents are linked.

Double Jeopardy in the New Hate Crimes Legislation?

by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

A few days ago, Hans Bader writing for Stop the ACLU reported on the hate crimes legislation Bill. This article is intended to be a further discussion of what is behind the language in the Bill. The question is, is double jeopardy a factor in this new legislative language?

Dual Sovereignty

The answer is kinda-sorta. It's really more about The Dual Sovereignty Doctrine negating the double jeopardy clause in the 5th Amendment.

The government now does have the right to try hate crime suspects after they have been tried by the state, and even if already tried and found guilty by the state. This position is confirmed by a letter from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to members of the U.S. Senate. Read it at NationaReviewOnLine. So how does it happen a person can be tried twice for the same crime?

Here is a portion that I believe gives the DOJ the opportunity to retry a hate crime: (The text of the Bill is here).

(b) (1) IN GENERAL - No prosecution of any offense described in the subsection may be undertaken by the United States, except under the certification in writing of the Attorney General, or his designee, that- (C) the verdict or sentence obtained pursuant to State charges left demonstratively unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating bias-motivated violence; or (D) a prosecution by the United States is in the public interest and necessary to secure substantial justice.

(b) (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION- Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to limit the authority of Federal officers, or a Federal grand jury, to investigate possible violations of this section.

This gives the DOJ the right to try any case on behalf of a victim they feel has not received justice, while also eliminating "the badges...and relics of slavery and involuntary servitude."

 A quick reading of the Bill might lead you to think it will simply "support" state's with money, but it goes much deeper than the $5 million to be given to states in each of the years 2010 and 2011. If a state can "certify" the need for government assistance to "investigate or prosecute the hate crime," then that state will get that assistance. But read about the"sham and cover" exception a few paragraphs below. We have to ask why this administration believes this legislation is necessary.

The Dual Sovereignty Doctrine expects those administering under the Doctrine to "limit" their actions. This from TheFreeLibrary:

The court did not, however, fully eliminate the double jeopardy prohibition from this context. The dual sovereignty doctrine continues to be limited by what is referred to as the "sham" exception, which was described by the Bartkus Court.

The sham exception provides that a prosecution by one sovereign cannot be used as a "sham and a cover" for another sovereign's re-prosecution of the same defendant.

This doctrine would operate to prevent, on double jeopardy grounds, a prosecution brought by one sovereign with the encouragement and support of another sovereign that has already failed in its attempt to prosecute the same defendant.

The doctrine is founded on the rationale that the two sovereigns are acting as one. Unfortunately, this exception has been construed so narrowly as to make it difficult to be utilized successfully.

Apparently, this DOJ and Barack Obama believe that justice is not done often enough, and courts do not punish, often enough, those who commit hate crimes? So the question remains: is it possible for any violent crime to be classified as a “hate crime” when it is perpetrated against a Jewish or a white person?