Thoughts on Welda and Hate Crimes

I wanted to comment briefly on one of the cases recently accepted by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, as reported here by Jessica Slavin.

In State v. Welda, the court will consider the application of the hate crime penalty enhancer set forth in § 939.645(1) providing for increased penalties where the state can prove that a defendant “[i]ntentionally select[ed] the person against whom the crime . . . is committed . . . in whole or in part because of the actor’s belief or perception regarding the race . . . of that person . . . .”

Without getting into the distasteful detail, the defendants were convicted of disorderly conduct arising out of what seems to be an argument with some African-American passers-by who objected to the defendants’ repeated use of the n-word.

There are some not very interesting (and not particularly powerful) arguments that the comments were not directed to the African-American complainants.

But there are three things that I think merit comment.

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Wisconsin Supreme Court Accepts Three More Cases

Supreme Court sealThe Wisconsin Supreme Court recently voted to accept review in three more cases, one criminal case and two civil ones.

The criminal case is State v. Popke, 2008AP446-CR. From the court’s website, “A decision by the Supreme Court could clarify if a momentary crossing of the center line creates probable cause to believe that a motorist has failed to drive on the right side of the roadway, as required by Wis. Stat. § 346.05. Alternatively, the court may provide further guidance as to what driving conduct a police officer must observe in order to create a reasonable suspicion of an OWI violation. From Waupaca County.”

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Wisconsin Supreme Court Accepts Six New Cases, Will Consider Constitutionality of Hate-Crime Penalty Enhancer

Supreme Court sealThe Wisconsin Supreme Court recently considered a number of petitions for review and voted to accept six new cases.  (As I said before, I am planning to write here whenever the Wisconsin Supreme Court accepts new cases.  This is the second of that series.)

The cases accepted today include three criminal cases and three civil cases.  This post describes only the three criminal cases.  I’ll blog next about the civil cases.

Probably the most interesting of the three criminal cases is State v. Welda, 2007AP2024-CR.  State v. Welda presents questions of interpretation and constitutionality of Wisconsin’s disorderly conduct crime and hate crime enhancer penalty.  The underlying charges stem from incidents in which three Janesville residents used offensive racial epithets against a number of African-American residents, including two children.  State v. Welda, 2008 WI App U 135, ¶ 2-5.  When police arrived at the scene, 10-15 residents had gathered in the area of the disturbance.  Id. ¶ 2. In addition to describing their African-American neighbors with inflammatory racial epithets, one of the Defendants also waved a Confederate flag during the incident, and two of the Defendants continued to speak the racial epithets after police directed them not to stop.  Id. ¶ 3-5.

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