Lesbian Rape Called Hate Crime by Police
Posted on January 2, 2009
Filed Under Assault, Criminal Law, Felony Crimes, Grand Theft Auto, Hate Crimes, Kidnapping, Law & Legal Defense, News, Rape & Sex Offenses, Robbery |
Some have said that like the Civil Rights movement of the last half century, the battle against homosexual prejudice will be at the center of this generation’s fight for social justice. If recent events are any indication, it will be another long, hard fight.
Two men and two teens have been arrested in the San Francisco Bay area on suspicion of gang-raping a 28-year-old woman. The woman was attacked as she exited her car which bore a rainbow gay pride sticker. Her attackers taunted her for being a lesbian as they raped her. Hitting and raping the woman on the sidewalk as she got out of her car, her attackers shoved her back into the car when someone approached. They drove her to an abandoned building where they raped her repeatedly before stealing her wallet and driving away in her car. Her attackers are being held without bail on charges of gang rape, kidnapping and carjacking. Police indicated that tips from local residents led to the arrests. Police have characterized the crime as a hate crime, noting that the victim’s attackers knew she lived with a female partner.
All three of the heinous crimes these men are charged with come under California’s tough Three Strikes Law. Under California’s Three Strikes Law, anyone convicted of two or more prior strike offenses faces a life-term sentence if convicted of a third felony, even if that felony is not a strike offense. Once convicted of a strike offense, penalties are doubled for subsequent convictions. As explained by expert criminal defense attorney Stephen Rodriguez, “Those defendants who have been convicted of a prior strike must be sentenced to prison for twice the determinate term or twice the minimum for the indeterminate term.”
In tough-on-crime California, the Three Strikes Law was instituted to keep violent repeat offenders behind bars. Strikes apply to violent and serious felonies as defined by the state’s Penal Code. Strike penalties can also apply to juvenile offenders who are 16 or 17 years old at the time of the offense. Examples of strike offenses include murder, rape, mayhem (serious and deliberate injury that disfigures or disables), grand theft involving a firearm, kidnapping, carjacking with a deadly weapon, any felony involving a firearm, any felony inflicting great bodily injury and a list of other serious crimes.
-LegalPro
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