Federal hate crime law now protects those with disabilities
Share with others:
The head of a disability-rights network said the slaying of Jennifer Daugherty could qualify as a federal hate crime under a law recently revamped to protect people with disabilities.
"This sounds like something that could easily rise to that level," said Curtis Decker, executive director of the Disability Rights Network in Washington, D.C., citing the torture police said Ms. Daugherty suffered before her death.
Six people have been charged in the death of Ms. Daugherty, 30, of Mount Pleasant, who was stabbed repeatedly, painted with nail polish, fed items such as detergent and urine and bound with Christmas decorations.
Family members said at a news conference Friday that the friendly, trusting Ms. Daugherty had a mental disability, and her stepfather, Bobby Murphy, said she had the mental faculties of a 12- to 14-year-old.
Robert Cessar, acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, said federal authorities would evaluate the case to determine whether it meets the criteria for a hate-crime prosecution.
President Barack Obama signed an expansion of the hate crimes law in October.
The changes attracted attention mostly because they extended protection to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, but the law also was expanded to include crimes based on a person's gender or disability. Mr. Decker said he pushed for the latter provision for about a dozen years.
Dropped from the law was a requirement that the victim be participating in a federally protected activity, such as voting, when the crime occurred.
Prosecutors must show the violence was directly related to the victim's disability in order for the act to qualify as a hate crime, Mr. Decker said. For example, he said, an attacker's animus might be revealed in epithets uttered during the crime.
First Published February 13, 2010 12:21 am
