Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 12, 1993 TAG: 9306120136
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Newsday
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
The court, in a decision that was rare because it was unanimous in both its result and its reasoning, said a Wisconsin statute that provides sharply higher penalties for "hate crimes" does not violate the First Amendment right of freedom of speech.
The case decided Friday involved Todd Mitchell, one of a group of black teen-agers in Kenosha, Wis., who in 1989 was disturbed by a scene in a movie called "Mississippi Burning" in which a white man beat a young black boy who was praying.
"Do you all feel hyped up to move on some white people?" Mitchell asked his friends, according to testimony. They beat a 14-year-old youth so severely he stayed in a coma four days. Lawyers in the case say he has never fully recovered.
Mitchell's sentence was increased to four years, from what would have been a maximum of two years, based on the hate-crime law, which can be invoked whenever a defendant intentionally selects his victim because of race, religion, color, disability, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court had ruled the law invalid, saying the legislature had violated the First Amendment by punishing what it considered offensive thoughts.
The justices said Friday that the Wisconsin law punished conduct, not thoughts or words.
by CNB