Posted on 11/04/2004 6:08:08 PM PST by Orange1998
(11/04/04 - HOUSTON) — There's an unusual case in a federal court in Houston. Two men who have already done time for beating a man last year find themselves back behind bars for the same crime facing even more serious charges.
This time Douglas Brannan, 21, and Mark Fletcher Smith, 25, are facing federal charges for the beating of an Hispanic man at a gas station in Spring last year. Buying gas is a constitutionally protected right of everyone.
The pair of assailants was accused of severely beating the man, kicking him with their steel-toe boots. They plead guilty to that charge in state court and did jail time.
Now the federal authorities have come back, accusing the men of civil rights violations and attempting to kill their victim. Brannan and Smith are now arrested and under indictment.
"This (victim) is a man who was scared to death," explained US Attorney Michael Shelby. "This, by the way, is a United States citizen. He was born and raised in the United States of America. He has the right of every other person and every other citizen in this country to be free from that kind of harassment by anybody for any reason. He was victimized, according to this indictment, because of his ethnic heritage. And we're just not going to tolerate that in this country."
For her part, Brannan's wife concedes there was a fight, but denies it was racially motivated.
Lashelle Brannan recalled, "He said he was thinking that the guy was white. So he doesn't know why these people are doing this in the first place, trying to call it a hate crime."
Caren Brannan, the suspect's mother, said, "It never had anything to do with race, as far as I know. He's got friends of all different types, all different races."
This time both Brannan and Smith are accused of attempted murder, under the Title 18 Civil Rights Protection Act. Rather than the 75 days in jail they served from the state sentence, this time the men could face up to life in prison.
Buying gas is a constitutionally protected right of everyone???
Sounds like Massachusetts and not Texas.
Public accomodations act (among others). Way back in the early '60s they passed a bunch of federal civil rights laws that guaranteed folks the right to buy stuff in stores, hotels, etc., and not be denied service solely because of their race.
Since when?
I wonder which article of the Constitution protects the "right" to buy gasoline??? I agree the men who did this are scumbags, but this is another example of supposed rights that are not mentioned in the Constitution.
I would ask the same question.
Texas isn't really tough on prosecuting fights. However if you kill someone... we will kill you back.
For what they did they need to be locked up but only for what they did. This hate crime stuff really needs to go. Most crime hate related . IMO
The feds just do it by simply bringing up new charges. They have thousands of laws from which to choose. They could literally charge these men with this crime, convict them, and as soon as they get out, charge them with another and make them go through it all over.
It was wrong when the feds did it to the policemen who were acquitted for beating Rodney King and it is wrong now.
Buying gas is a constitutionally protected right of everyone.
Hate crime laws are unconstitutional and provide greater protection to one segment of the population over the rest of the population. The perpetrators should receive the same sentence,no more or less, as if race was not a factor. I can not remember ever reading anything in the constitution addressing "thought crimes" which is required for the conviction of a hate crime. Considering one segment of the populations value in determining sentencing for these crimes committed against them is no more constitutional that counting an individual as 2/3 a person. Hate crime laws count protected segments as 1&2/3 a person, sound fair?
I asked them to double check the author's credentials and in the future to hire a more effective editor, in so many words.
The article is the top article of ABC13.com website. I assumed they double checked the statements. I have to agree the statements included in the article are misconstrued.
Next time tell them to beat up a redneck. No crime there. No one cares.
You shouldn't need hate crime laws to put two guys away for more than a year for trying to kick someone to death with steel-toed boots. I thought Texas could handle that kind of crime without resorting to bogus after-the-fact charges. These guys shouldn't be out on the original charge, unless there's more to the story than written here.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/100104_APlocal_angleton.html
By The Associated Press
(10/01/04 - HOUSTON) — The attorney for a former millionaire bookie who fled to Amsterdam in the days leading up to his 2003 murder-for-hire trial says prosecutors may revive a charge against his client under the extradition treaty that now bars them from prosecuting him for his wife's slaying.
Robert Angleton's lawyer, Stanley Schneider, spoke to reporters Thursday after U.S. Magistrate Judge Calvin Botley revoked a $300,000 appearance bond granted to the bookie last year before fleeing to the Netherlands in advance of his trial on the murder-for-hire charge. Deputy U.S. marshals last week escorted Angleton back to Houston from a Dutch prison after a court there ruled that he could be tried on charges of tax evasion, passport fraud and failure to appear.
However, the court also found that a double-jeopardy clause in the U.S.-Dutch extradition treaty forbade Angleton's return for trial on federal murder-for-hire charges because he had been acquitted on nearly identical charges in state court.
Schneider said after the hearing that if Angleton were convicted on any of the other charges, the treaty allows the U.S. Attorney's Office to renew efforts to prosecute the murder-for-hire charges 30 days after Angleton finishes his sentence.
Trial for Angleton of River Oaks is scheduled for Nov. 29 on the passport fraud charges
They plead guilty to that charge in STATE COURT and did jail time.
The FEDS need to keep their dirty noses out of the STATE's rights before they get theirs chopped off and handed back to them.
Civil Rights - my A**!
Doug Brannan is my former brother -in-law. My sister, Shelle (mentioned in the story) was married to this loser. They are now divorced (thank god). Doug is a loser and always has been. They say that the fight was not racially motivated which is crap. You couldn't even go the gas station (ironically where this happened) without Doug finding a black man or a hispanic man to talk shit to. He was an asshole to me an my family and treated my sister like shit. He deserves to be in jail and I'm suprissed that this didn't happen sooner. They say that he was with an unidentified juvinile when this happened. That person was David Tuck-the loser that just got life for sodomizing that boy. That should tell you something right there. These worthless peices of crap are where they should be. I only hope that Doug does something in jail (sentenced to 5 years) that will make him stay longer. He doesn't deserve to know his son or to see this light of day. Doug, you got what you had comming to you! Where's your Hilter now?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.