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terpfan1980
terpfan1980
Join Date 08/2004
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Beating of Queens Satanist Prompts Hate Crime Charges

January 12, 2005 1:51:16 AM from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
From NYTimes (found via DrudgeReport)

January 12, 2005

Beating of Queens Satanist Prompts Hate Crime Charges

By COREY KILGANNON

Ever since he was 12, Daniel Romano has cut a noticeable figure around Middle Village, a working class part of Queens. Mr. Romano, 20, who calls himself a Satanist, stands out, with his blue-tinted bouffant hairdo, his black clothing and fingernails, and the prominent crucifix, worn upside down.
Mr. Romano has long been teased for dressing like a "gothic kid" or simply a "goth," in a community with small homes, neat lawns and populated with many Roman Catholics.
But in recent weeks, two local teenagers began fixating on Mr. Romano, calling him names including "Satan worshiper," "baby sacrificer" and "hooker killer," the authorities say. On Sunday the verbal harassment turned into violence.
Mr. Romano, while walking on 72nd Street in Maspeth, was attacked by the two teenagers, the authorities say. Yesterday the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, announced that the young men, Paul C. Rotondi and Frank M. Scarpinito, both 18 and from Middle Village, would be charged with hate crimes, which carry harsher penalties and are usually leveled when an attack involves a victim's ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.
Prosecutors say they attacked Mr. Romano because of his religious beliefs: They thought he worshiped Satan. They were arraigned yesterday on charges of second-degree assault as a hate crime, possession of a weapon and aggravated harassment. The charges could carry prison terms of up to 15 years.
About 2 p.m. on Sunday, prosecutors say, the teenagers pulled up in a car and one yelled to Mr. Romano, "Hey, Satan!"
The authorities said that both defendants then attacked Mr. Romano - Mr. Rotondi using a metal club, and Mr. Scarpinito wielding an ice scraper. Mr. Romano was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he received 12 stitches. On Monday, he filed a complaint with police officers, who arrested the two youths.
At their arraignment yesterday, prosecutors asked that they be held in $75,000 bail, but a judge set it at $5,000 and they were released. An assistant district attorney, George J. Farrugia, said the defendants believed that Mr. Romano worshiped Satan and "over the last month and a half, they have had it in for this kid, and have been abusive."
Mr. Scarpinito's lawyer, Richard Leff, called the charges "an abuse of the hate crime status," and said his client had never been in trouble. Mr. Rotondi's lawyer, Sean A. McNicholas, said prosecutors were calling this a hate crime because of "politics and press."
"The kid is gothic with blue hair: He falls into a category of kid," Mr. McNicholas said. "At worst, this is a simple dispute between kids, not an attack on a minority."


... more at linked article


Note the emphasized portion. Some who have been following my prior postings may be aware that I personally think the category "hate crime" is pretty ignorant. All crimes of violence are basically hate crimes. Creating a special category for crimes based on who the victim is seems stupid to me. All victims deserve justice, and all criminals should meet justice in the courts and in jails.

With that said, I think the lawyer for the defendants is barking up the wrong tree here. His clients are as guilty of a hate crime as I can possibly imagine, given the facts as presented in the article above. I hope that these folks are locked away for a good, long while, and I hope they see very little freedom while there.
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terpfan1980
Grim Xiozan
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Reply #1 January 12, 2005 2:42:36 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Indeed, dare I say it the two defendents are guilty as HELL!!

Muahahahahahahaha!!

- Grim
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terpfan1980
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Reply #2 January 12, 2005 2:47:08 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

Reply #1 By: Grim Xiozan - 1/12/2005 2:42:36 AM
Indeed, dare I say it the two defendents are guilty as HELL!!

Muahahahahahahaha!!

- Grim


Hey Grim, long time no hear. Whatcha been up to? And please don't come out with the old line of 6'.
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terpfan1980
Grim Xiozan
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Reply #3 January 12, 2005 3:26:09 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Not much altogether, just reading books of Philosophy and Psychology as well now attending new college courses, trying to figure out which field I want to specialize in might just be Philosophy.

Hell, not too busy here. I am just not into Politic arguments yet maybe once I get some more Philosophy under my belt combined with reading and understanding Ayn Rand's view of Objectivism plus picking up the Libertarian Reader book just for some added knowledge and firepower in the political arena.

Later for now,
Grim
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terpfan1980
whoman69
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Reply #4 January 12, 2005 8:47:35 AM
from PoliticalMachine ForumsPoliticalMachine Forums
What is the difference between beating a gay or a black because of what they are and beating a satanist because of what they are? If they beat him because of prejudice then it is a hate crime.
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terpfan1980
ParaTed2k
Join Date 12/2004
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Reply #5 January 13, 2005 2:53:48 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
"Hate Crime" legislation is nothing more than a way to infuse the thoughts of the accused into the trial and sentencing. I a person rapes a woman, does it matter to the judge and jury whether the guy did it because she was hot and he could no longer control his sexual urges, as a means of lashing out against his feelings of inadequacy with women, or just extreme violent tendencies? Usually not. However, if the victim was a member of a protected group, all of the sudden his thoughts do matter (whether they had anything to do with his actual reasoning or not).

If an Mr. Romano's assailants attacked him out of a love of violence, would it then make sense to call it a "Love Crime"???
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terpfan1980
Rightwinger
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Reply #6 January 13, 2005 4:15:28 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
An assistant district attorney, George J. Farrugia, said the defendants believed that Mr. Romano worshiped Satan and "over the last month and a half, they have had it in for this kid, and have been abusive."


I loved this part....where they have to say that the defendants "believed" Romano worhipped satan. It had been stated already, by the victim himself, that he called himself a Satanist. Did they really have to speculate on whether or not he did? No. He was an avowed satanist, and that was why they attacked him. I see what you mean, tf80, and I agree that the "hate crime" thing is somewhat abused. I'd still have to classify this as hate crime, though, simply because the definition of a hate crime is, simply put, a crime committed against a person or persons because of race or individual belief.

You know, I hate to say it (BEWARE: shallow and most un-PC statement coming), but people like this ask for it.
When you express opinions and ideas that are well outside the mainstream, as is satanism, you have to expect to get resistance to them, in one form or another.
This does not excuse violence, of course, but I hate it when I see some kid on the news or wherever, with piercings everywhere, red contacts, jet-black hair and black fingernail polish, white face makeup, black eyeliner and lipstick and chains all over his black clothes, that's been attacked by other "mainstream" kids, and he's on there whining about it. "They don't accept me!"
They don't want to be accepted. Those Goth kids dress like that in order to push people's buttons; sooner or later, you're going to push the wrong button, or rather wrong person's buttons, and get your ass kicked. That's life.
If you want to dance to your own drummer, that's fine, but just know that others are looking at you and many are not understanding you at all, and that scares some people. Same with satanism, which REALLY scares some people.
People with such lifestyles and beliefs should be prepared to accept any negative consequences that may come with their choices. Too many are not.
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