Georgia Gay Attack Gives Department of Justice A Golden Opportunity

“The Federal government has a strong interest in protecting people from violent crimes motivated by such bias and bigotry,” Attorney General Eric Holder testified before Congress in 2009, when he enthusiastically embraced the LGBT-inclusive Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr Hate Crimes Law.

"I am particularly pleased that Section 249(a)(2) would for the first time allow for Federal prosecution of violence undertaken because of the actual or perceived gender, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity of any person," he proclaimed. "The Department therefore welcomes the expanded coverage of section 249, which would allow us to prosecute and deter violent acts of this sort more effectively." A case in Savannah, Georgia will now test Holder's resolve.

In June of this year, two Marines, Keil Cronauer, 22, and Christopher Stanzel, 23, were arrested for reportedly punching a 26-year old man named Kieran Daly in the back of the head outside a bar. Daly, who is gay, claims the men thought he had winked at them, were incensed, demanded respect for their military service and then called him "fag," or some variation.

When Daly tried to walk away, they punched him in the back of the head. The men were caught running away from the scene, and subsequently told police they were being harassed by a gay man. That's a reason to run, sure!

The Chatham County District Attorney announced Friday that the alleged assault will not be prosecuted as a hate crime, which is a felony, and the Marines will only face misdemeanor charges for supposedly punching Daly. “I can’t speak on the specifics because this is pending litigation, but for a crime to be considered a felony, there has to be proof of a sustained injury," said a DA spokesperson. According to news broadcasts of the incident, however, an injury was sustained.

"Daly said after his friends performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation at the scene, he was taken to Memorial University Medical Center and diagnosed with bruises to his brain," Savannah Now related. "He had two seizures immediately after the attack and was expected to remain at Memorial for several days."

Unless the Chatham County's DA office means "sustained" as in ongoing, then Daly's ordeal should be considered "bodily injury." Unfortunately, Georgia doesn't have a hate crime law; their state Supreme Court struck it down in 2004. That's where Holder comes into the picture.

The current federal hate crime law defines bodily injury as anything from a cut or abrasion, to physical pain, impairment of an organ or "any other injury to the body, no matter how temporary."

By that definition, Daly did indeed sustain bodily injury. So, unless someone wants to claim the brain isn't part of the body, federal definition holds up, and the Department of Justice should press prosecutors to bump the charges up to a hate crime.

But of course this is Georgia, and the Department of Justice can't just jump into their judicial affairs, right? Wrong. The law clearly states that while federal officials will leave initial charges up to the state, the Department of Justice has the ability to step in when necessary. From Section 249 of the law, signed by Obama: "No prosecution of any offense described in this subsection [i.e, bodily harm] may be undertaken by the United States, except under the certification in writing of the Attorney General, [unless] (D) a prosecution by the United States is in the public interest and necessary to secure substantial justice."

And Holder said it himself: The nation "has a strong interest in protecting people from violent crimes by such bias and bigotry."

President Obama echoed that sentiment at the law's signing. "We have for centuries strived to live up to our founding ideal, of a nation where all are free and equal and able to pursue their own version of happiness," he said. "We've made progress not only by changing laws but by changing hearts, by our willingness to walk in another's shoes, by our capacity to love and accept even in the face of rage and bigotry."

Charging these men with a hate crime would prove that the government hopes to uphold those ideals. Too bad the delicate nature of an election year make such a situation highly unlikely.

The Attorney General and the Obama administration don't seem inclined to use a contentious election in a swing state to wade into an alleged attack on a gay man, especially when the supposed assailants are Marines. Can you imagine what the right wing would say? Here's my guess: "Obama loves the homos more than the military!"

But I'm hoping that's just my cynicism talking and that the Department of Justice steps in to correct the Chatham County DA's misjudgment, because the aura of biased motivation hovers all around this potentially pivotal case.

Photo credit: Hyperion327's Flickr