Reno renews plea for hate crimes bill in wake of Wyoming murder

Senate Judiciary Committee may hold hearings on measure


Reno

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, October 18) -- In the wake of the brutal murder of a gay Wyoming college student, Attorney General Janet Reno on Sunday renewed her call for Congress to pass a federal hate crimes statute which would cover sexual orientation.

In an interview on CNN's "Late Edition," Reno said that the bill would send "a clear message from the federal government .. that hate crimes will not be tolerated."

But a leading religious conservative and opponent of hate crimes legislation, Gary Bauer of the Family Research Council, accused Reno and the Clinton administration of using the death of Matthew Shepard to advance a political agenda.

"I think it is terrible that the murder of the young man is exploited for a very bad public policy idea," Bauer said on "Late Edition." "When a terrible incident happens, one of the big problems in Washington is we tend to do very stupid things."

Hatch: 'There's a punishment'


Hatch

But Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Sunday that he was willing to hold hearings on the legislation, despite his own reservations about whether the bill is necessary.

"Sometimes you may need something like that so everybody in this country realizes there's a penalty, that there's a punishment that comes from being vicious and vindictive against people who you might not agree with," Hatch said on "Fox News Sunday."

Existing federal law allows for the federal prosecution of crimes in cases where victims were singled out because of their race, religion or national origin. The bill now before Congress would extend that provision to crimes in which victims were targeted because of their gender, disability or sexual orientation.

"It is addressing situations where the state cannot or will not take action, or where there may be an evidentiary law in the state that makes it more propitious to handle the case in federal court," Reno said, adding that language in the bill allows states to have the first option to prosecute a hate crime case.

"Traditionally, this nation has always looked at conduct that discriminated against groups not because of what they did but of who they are," she said. "Violence against such groups is violence based on bigotry and discrimination, and it is something this nation has spoke of for a long time. I think it is important that it be applied in this situation as well."

Bauer rejects argument

But Bauer blasted the notion that state or local prosecutors would fail to prosecute a crime because the victim was homosexual, forcing the Justice Department to step in.

"I don't know what country the attorney general is living in. Is she really suggesting that there is someplace in America where murder or assault would not be prosecuted by local authorities?" he said.

Shepard, 21, a freshman at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, was severely beaten and left tied to a fence in near-freezing temperatures. He was found about 12 hours later and died five days later in a Colorado hospital. His funeral was held Friday.

Two 21-year-old Laramie men, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, have been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated battery. If convicted, they could receive the death penalty.

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