The challenge of prosecuting a hate crime

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In 2023, law enforcement agencies in California reported a total of 1,970 hate crimes; however, only five of these cases were ultimately resolved at trial, according to data from the California Attorney General's Office. 

In 2021, when the state was experiencing an alarming spike in hate violence, just one case went to trial. Black people are overwhelmingly the targets of hate crimes, while Jewish people, Muslims, and the LGBTQ community are also experiencing a rise in bias-motivated attacks.

Hate crimes are notoriously difficult to prove, says California Attorney General Rob Bonta, echoing the comments of prosecutors throughout the nation. An Ethnic Media briefing on the subject heard from two victims, Monthanus Ratanapakdee, whose father was killed in what appeared to be a hate crime and Kunni, a bartender who was pepper-sprayed as her attackers yelled “go back to your country.” 

Kunni kept her video off, as her attacker lives in the same neighborhood where she lives with her daughter.
 
Given the evidence requirements for successful hate crime charges and convictions the conviction rates are low. The panelists, Erin West, Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney who has prosecuted hate crimes for 26 years and Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate stressed on the importance of reporting hate crimes even though conviction rates are low.

What happened on that horrible day when your father was attacked?

Traumatized Monthanus Ratanapakdee relived the experience as she spoke of the violent death of Vicha Ratanapakdee her 84-year-old father. Three years ago, her father had left his grandsons to attend their zoom classrooms and stepped out for a stroll on Fortuna Avenue in San Francisco’s Anza neighborhood when he was thrown to the ground by 19-year-old Antoine Watson. 

Vicha's head hit the pavement as he fell. He never regained consciousness and died two days after arrival in the hospital from a brain hemorrhage. The killing was captured on a CCTV camera across the street. Watson was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse and murder.

 “The suspect has been in a county jail since January 2021, where he is being held without bail on one count of murder, and one count of inflicting injury on the elderly. The case has gone on for so long. My family feels like justice delayed is justice denied,” said Ratanapakdee. “The District Attorney’s office has not filed a hate crime charge! They say they have no evidence”

She turned on the Facebook video of the event and turned her face away.
“I'm sorry. That must be really hard for you to watch,” said the moderator.

“Yes, it's heartbreaking to our family. The attack was unprovoked. We should not be silent anymore. The community has a distrust of the justice system and doesn't report the incidents. The victim has the right to have the priority, you know. speedy trial.”

Homicides can take 8 years to 10 years. The hearings are every month.

“I am going to keep showing up, you know, because this is my dad.”

The attack against Kunni, a bartender in the Tenderloin district in San Francisco

At the briefing, Kunni recounted her ordeal of being verbally and physically assaulted with pepper spray at the bar where she was employed. The two suspects entered the bar just as it was about to close for the evening. That information was communicated to them by Kunni. That is when the altercation began.

“That night I was cleaning the restroom, when I heard someone talking loudly walk in from the outside. I ask her, can I see your ID, please? I told her, the bar is closing. They wanted to play pool. But the pool table was occupied. 

She called me to tell me the guys who were playing pool were racist. They don't want her to play pool. I said, “I'm afraid you don't have time to play pool. And then she got mad because I didn’t let her play. She repeatedly called me racist, an Asian b**ch, go back to your country. And after she pepper sprayed me!”

There were other women at the bar but the suspect chose to berate and attack the only Asian woman in the room. The police came. The prosecutor said that this was not a hate crime. No charges were filed against the suspect. The suspect already had two strikes against her and the third would be disastrous as she had a kid, said the prosecutor. Therefore, she was not arrested.

Kunni goes for counseling for her panic attacks and the fear she feels when she walks on the street.

Were these hate crimes?

There's a difference between a hate crime and a hate incident. In both of the cases that you just heard, we know that a crime has occurred, explained Erin West, Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney. We know that a man has been killed and a woman has been pepper sprayed. Those are crimes.

If a racial bias was displayed and the bias was the substantial reason for the crime being committed, then it would be a race crime.

Kunni’s situation is a classic situation of where there's more than one reason this attack happened, felt West. “The reasons could be this person didn't like the fact that Kunni said they couldn't play pool. It could also be true that the reason why they pepper sprayed her is because they had an anti-Asian bias,” explained West.

Though West understood how it would be frustrating for Kunni to hear that the suspect was not arrested and how excruciating it must be for her to continue to live in a neighborhood where she feels the suspect got away with something, the prosecutor has to weigh all factors.

“Things stacked up during COVID. That may explain some of the statistics”, said West. “In the year 2023 the total cases tried would include 5 from that year. In 2021 one case from that year got tried. They may not represent the total number of cases tried that year. Cases are taking a longer time for that reason as well.”  

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin in Ratanapakdee’s case called the crime "heinous" but thought, according to the evidence, that the attack was not racially motivated, stating that "the defendant was in some sort of a temper tantrum." He had punched a car the same night before this incident.

“To prove a hate crime we have to prove how that person was thinking and so that can be tricky but it doesn't mean it cannot be done,” said West.