Ohio teen sentenced in parking lot noose attack

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio – A central Ohio teenager accused of putting a noose around a Hispanic boy’s neck and dragging him in a parking lot has been sentenced to 10 days in jail.

The 18-year-old was sentenced Wednesday in juvenile court in Mount Vernon, a city of 15,000 residents an hour’s drive northeast of Columbus. He dropped his original plea of not guilty and pleaded no contest to ethnic intimidation.

A charge of aggravated menacing was dropped.

Seventeen-year-old Robert Cantu says in May 2008 he was dragged from a sidewalk to a parking lot with the noose wrapped around his neck by a group of teenagers shouting racial slurs. He says the teens threatened to hang him before a bystander intervened.

His family says it plans to sue the city, dubbed the state’s Most Livable Community in 1994.

This is so wrong – not just the crime, but also the news coverage.

• The victim is named but the criminal remains anonymous.
• The case was tried in Juvenile Court, for what appears to be misdemeanors.  Why no hate crime charges, a felony?
• The crime was committed by a mob – only 1 perpetrator was tried.
• The perpetrator is referred to as a “teen.”  Technically correct, but it downplays his responsibility for his crime.
• That’s not a “bystander,” by any definition. S/he didn’t “stand by.”  That’s a hero.
• 10 days in the local jail for attempted lynching.  That’s less that he would have served for possession of a beer.

If there is to be any justice, charges should be filed in federal court for the denial of civil rights.  Will it happen?  I doubt it.

From Yahoo News