NY’s Joshua Holts Gets 4 Years In Jail For Bar Bashing, But No Hate Crime Attachment
After being found guilty of second-degree assault in July, Joshua Holts, 26, was today sentenced to four years in prison for attacking 47-year-old Scott Wright outside a bar near Buffalo in 2008, which left him requiring four surgeries to repair damage to his eye and face. Another procedure is scheduled for next month.
The entire episode was caught on surveillance tape and shows Holts viciously beating Wright.
Holts, who apologized in court for being too drunk during the attack, allegedly hurled anti-gay slurs at his victim the entire time, but Judge Thomas Franczyk didn’t believe there was enough concrete evidence to add a hate crime charge.
HOW THE FUCK IS THIS NOT A HATE CRIME??? He spew anti-gay slurs while he was beating the shit out of him. It’s even a miracle that they captured all this on tape and for the attacker to admit to his wrong doing. How much more fucking evidence does this judge need? and what a coward for his attacker to blame alcohol. Alcohol brings out the TRUTH!!!
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@Jaroslaw: The Springville police were convinced that this was a hate crime, based on their interview with Holts and other info, and persued it as such. How often does that happen? For the judge to re-interpret Holts motives, to provide excuses, is acting as his defense not as a judge.
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Kev C – Like I said, it apparently wasn’t proven. Now, I’m not doubting that it was a hate crime, but presumably whatever the police presented was insufficient? Do we know the details of why that testimony/evidence was ignored?
Frankly, I think four years is not much prison time for someone who beat the crap out of another person.
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Apparently there would only be enough evidence if the defendant stood up and yelled “Death to f*gs just like I tried that night!”