User:RahalMccall69
@@@ Was Joe Mixon the victim of a hate crime? How鈥檚 that for a twist in the saga of Mixon, the OU tailback who was charged with one misdemeanor count of an act resulting in gross injury, after allegedly punching fellow OU student Amelia Molitor. Molitor was not charged, though she allegedly slapped Mixon first. For the Sunday Oklahoman, I wrote about district attorney Greg Mashburn and his fishbowl existence, being the prosecutor in a college football town. You can read that column . Mashburn had many options in this case. Including, some say, <a href=http://capstone.edu.sg/images/guccioutlet.onlinesalecc.php>Gucci Shoes</a> filing a hate crime charge against Molitor. According to lawfirmofoklahoma.com, Section 850 of the Oklahoma criminal code defines hate crimes in the state as 鈥渢hose which target a victim or victims because of specific bias or prejudice.鈥?The statute defines hate crimes as the malicious and intentional harassment or intimidation of a person because of the victim鈥檚 鈥渞ace, color, religion, national origin, or disability.鈥?Acts of harassment or intimidation include the following: assault; assault and battery; vandalism; threat of violence; threat of destruction of property; transmitting messages through telephone, computer, or electronic media intended to incite imminent violence; and publishing, broadcasting <a href=http://www.symbiose.ca/images/christianlouboutin.gwij.php>Christian Louboutin Outlet</a> or distributing material intended to incite imminent violence.鈥? Hate crime penalties are additional to any sentences levied for conviction of the underlying crime. Committing a hate crime is a misdemeanor on the first offense. Mixon鈥檚 attorney, Kevin Finlay, says Mixon was 鈥渞acially slurred鈥?and 鈥減hysically assaulted鈥?by Molitor. Mashburn said some witnesses said racial slurs were used while other witnesses said they weren鈥檛. Mashburn said no witness recalled the events exactly as they happened, as shown on video. Mashburn said the video was critical to his ultimate decision. But if Molitor did utter a racial slur that was followed by a slap, that fits the framework of a hate crime. If a racial slur was used, was it 鈥渕alicious and intentional?鈥?Can a drunk 20-year-old without a lick of sense be malicious? That鈥檚 for legal minds to decide. But it鈥檚 interesting to discuss. Lots of ridiculous behavior is alleged to have occurred at Pickleman鈥檚 Gourmet caf茅 in the early hours of July 25, including Mixon uttering a homosexual slur at a friend of Molitor鈥檚. That does not fit the hate crime parameters in Oklahoma, because homosexuality is not covered in the Oklahoma law, plus Mixon is not alleged to have hit the recipient of the slur. It鈥檚 all one big mess, but it raises a question. If Molitor had been charged with a hate crime, would that change your view on Mixon? It certainly affects the narrative. And would that have changed the decision by OU to <a href=http://capstone.edu.sg/images/gucciusaonlineoutlet.php>gucci outlet</a> suspend Mixon for a year? I don鈥檛 know. I don鈥檛 know that they know. I do know that the video played a part in the decision of David Boren, Joe Castiglione and Bob Stoops. Here is what Mashburn said about his decision: 鈥淲hen you are looking at that, you start saying, 鈥榃ell, OK, who鈥檚 the initial aggressor? Who basically started the physical aspect of the confrontation?鈥?In this particular case, I felt like this statute (one misdemeanor count of an act resulting in gross injury) more fit what happened because now we don鈥檛 have to talk about who the initial aggressor was. Was there gross injury? And there was. And was that against public morals? And I believe that anytime you punch a girl with that much force, even when she had hit you first, that it would be against public morals.鈥?
