A Killing at Donkey Creek

April 26, 2018 10:46 AM

Jimmy Smith-Kramer, a basketball legend on the Quinault Nation reservation, was 20 when he was mowed down by a white man in a pickup truck. The decision not to charge a hate crime, and recent talk of a plea deal, has re-opened ancient wounds.
The latest from the ProPublica project Documenting Hate. (previously).
posted by adamvasco (4 comments total)

Hate crime legislation is completely broken if prosecutors are afraid to use it for fear of torpedoing the rest of the case.
posted by Brocktoon at 11:07 AM on April 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

Reversing and hitting the victims a second time before leaving the scene and trying to cover up the crime should make this a first degree murder, life in prison case
posted by knoyers at 11:37 AM on April 26, 2018 [3 favorites]

it is a life in prison case. he goes to trial in May. It's wayyyyy deep in the text though.
posted by eventually consistent at 2:15 PM on April 26, 2018

Walker, who pleaded innocent at his May 2017 arraignment, has maintained he could not have committed a hate crime against Natives because he is part Cherokee himself.

Of course he’s part Cherokee. Just like our local Rush Limbaugh wannabe can authoritatively claim that the Washington DC football team doesn’t have an offensive name because he’s not offended and he’s part Cherokee himself.
posted by TedW at 4:47 AM on April 28, 2018