Media Blackout: Black Shooting Suspect Charged With Hate Crime

Dave Gibson
12/02/2014News

Josiah Chandler

Lockport, NY – On Monday, Josiah J. Chandler, 18, appeared in City Court, at which time he waived his right to a preliminary hearing, and pleaded not guilty to attempted murder as a hate crime, and several other charges. The case will now be presented to a Niagara County grand jury.

Around 12:30 a.m., on Nov. 26, Colton Baker-Durst, 20, was shot several times in the back near the intersection of Church and Green streets. The victim, who is white, does not know the accused and was simply walking down the street when he was accosted by Chandler, according to police.

Baker-Durst was taken to Erie County Medical Center, where he remains in critical condition, at this time.

“The formal charges drawn up by Detective Lt. Todd Chenez allege that Chandler ‘did approach the victim and then pulled out a handgun and shot the victim in the back several times because of his race,‘” reported The Buffalo News.

There was also a witness to the shooting, whose account of the incident apparently supports the hate crime charge.

Chandler has been charged with attempted second-degree murder as a hate crime, first-degree assault and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He is currently being held at the Niagara County Jail on $250,000 bond.

New York law states a perpetrator can be charged with a hate crime when he/she “intentionally selects the person against whom the offense is committed or intended to be committed in whole or in substantial part because of a belief or perception regarding the race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation of a person, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct…”

Read the hate crimes statute in its entirety…

While this crime has received local coverage, not one national media outlet has mentioned it.
Why?

http://universalfreepress.com/media-...ed-hate-crime/
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