Detroit Man Sentenced for Anti-Gay Hate Crime

WASHINGTON—Everett Dwayne Avery, 26, of Detroit, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge John Corbett O’Meara after pleading guilty to committing a hate crime by assaulting a man because the man was gay. Avery was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.
The assault occurred on March, 7, 2011, while Avery and the victim were at a convenience store in Detroit. Avery used anti-gay slurs toward the victim as Avery and the victim waited in line in the convenience store. Shortly after the first slurs, while still in the store, Avery used another anti-gay slur and punched the victim in the face, fracturing the victim’s eye socket. Avery pled guilty to violating the federal Hate Crimes Protection Act on August 29, 2012.
“Hate-fueled incidents like this one have no place in a civilized society,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department is committed to using all the tools in our law enforcement arsenal, including the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, to prosecute acts motivated by hate.”
“Congress has made it clear that it is a crime to assault people solely on the basis of their sexual orientation. Prosecutions under this law are important to ensure that all people in our community know that they have the full protection of the law,” said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara McQuade.
Special Agent in Charge Foley stated, “Hate crimes have no place in a civilized society. We are a nation of laws, and our laws embrace diversity and differences. The law does not tolerate the type of hate demonstrated in this matter, and the FBI will investigate and put forth for prosecution a violation of that law.”
The case was investigated by the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Pamela Thompson from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Trial Attorney Sanjay Patel from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Three Yuba County Men Charged with Hate Crime for Attack on African-American Woman and White Man

SACRAMENTO, CA—Billy James Hammett, 28, and Perry Sylvester Jackson, 27, both of Marysville; and Anthony Merrell Tyler, 32, of Olivehurst, were arrested today on federal hate crime charges for their racially motivated attack on an African-American woman and white man in Marysville, on April 18, 2011.
Hammett and Jackson were arrested today in Marysville and were arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dale A. Drozd. Not guilty pleas were entered. They will appear before U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez on January 29, 2013, at 9:45 a.m. Tyler surrendered today in Sacramento and will be arraigned on Wednesday.
The defendants were charged in a three-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Sacramento and unsealed today. They are charged with one count of conspiracy and two counts of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The Shepard-Byrd Act criminalizes certain acts of physical violence causing bodily injury motivated by any person’s actual or perceived race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.
The indictment alleges that when an African-American woman accompanied by a white male drove into the parking lot of a convenience store, Jackson called the male a “n—— lover.” Hammett then approached the driver’s side of the car, using a racial epithet to refer to the African-American driver, while Jackson and Tyler attacked from the other side of the car. The indictment further alleges that Hammett and Jackson punched and kicked the African-American woman driver and white male passenger and that Tyler smashed the car windshield with a crowbar.
If convicted, the defendants could face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on the conspiracy charge and 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on each of the two hate-crime charges. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory sentencing factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
This case is the product on an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Yuba County Sheriff’s Office, and the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Steven Lapham and Trial Attorney Chiraag Bains from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Joliet Man Pleads Guilty to Setting Fire in 2007 to Home of Neighboring African-American Family

CHICAGO—A Joliet man is facing an agreed maximum 10-year prison sentence after pleading guilty today to a federal civil rights crime for setting fire to the home of an African-American family on his street in 2007. The defendant, Brian James Moudry, admitted that at approximately 4 a.m. on June 17, 2007, he carried a can containing gasoline to the home, splashed the gasoline on the residence, and ignited it. No one was injured, although the home was occupied by eight children and an adult at the time of the fire.
Moudry, 36, formerly of the 300 block of South Reed Street, Joliet, pleaded guilty to using fire to interfere with the housing rights on the basis of race under the terms of an agreement that, if accepted, provide he will be sentenced to the maximum of 10 years on that count. U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman scheduled sentencing for 10 a.m. on April 26.
Moudry has remained in federal custody without bond since he was arrested on May 30, 2012.
“One of our most important responsibilities is to protect members of all racial and ethnic groups from intimidation and violence,” said Gary S. Shapiro, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, who announced the guilty plea with Cory B. Nelson, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to the plea agreement, Moudry was upset that an African-American family rented a house at 318 South Reed St., on the same block as his house. He admitted that he set the fire because African-Americans were occupying the home and that he intended to interfere with their continued ability to rent the residence and to intimidate the owner from continuing to rent to African-Americans.
The government is being ­represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nancy DePodesta and Steven Dollear.