Charges for hate crimes unusual in Cape Co.

~ The prosecuting attorney said his office averages less than one new case a year.

Michael Williams doesn't considered himself physically disabled.

Born with half his right arm and leg missing, he's learned to do everything anybody else can do, refusing to let it stop him.

So when he was attacked this week by two teenagers who used his own prosthetic leg to hit him, he didn't consider it a hate crime.

"I really didn't at first," Williams said.

For the Sunday morning attack at 921 Hackberry St., Alexander S. Harris, 17, was charged with assault and a 16-year-old boy was cited into juvenile court. Under state statutes, Harris' charge is considered a hate crime and was upgraded from a misdemeanor to a felony.

The Cape Girardeau County prosecutor's office averages less than one new case a year for hate crimes, Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said.

"It's something that's not typically seen in our community, and it is surprising that something like this would happen," police spokesman Jason Selzer said.

So far this year, three assaults have been classified as hate crimes, including Williams', Selzer said.

On the afternoon of April 8, a man was jumped by two others at 407 Morgan Oak St. and beaten up because of his sexual orientation. The victim later declined to have the case pursued, Selzer said.

Another man claimed to have been stabbed the morning of April 22 at Sprigg and Themis streets for his sexual orientation. He said some men were yelling derogatory terms at him and stabbed his hand with a screwdriver. When treated, the victim only had scratches and no puncture wound, Selzer said. The case remains unsolved.

When someone claims to have been attacked because of a distinguishing attribute, such as race or religion, police report it as a hate crime.

In the past, Swingle has filed one or two cases against a defendant accused of assaulting a person based on their sexual orientation and several others based on a person's race. But Williams' assault was the first time the county has seen the hate crime statute applied to those attacked because of their physical disability, Swingle said.

For 18 years, there has been some sort of statute for hate crimes on the books in Missouri. In 1988, the ethnic intimidation statute was passed, increasing the level of punishment for some types of offenses where race or ethnic origin was the motivation.

The statute was changed in 1999 to broaden the definition. Under the older statute, hate crimes against people with disabilities would not have been covered, Swingle said.

The current statute covers attacks or property damage when the motivation is race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation or disability, Swingle said.

Despite the charges, Williams' mother, Carol, does not see the attack as a hate crime.

"I just think it was two kids looking for trouble, and they saw an easy mark," she said.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127