January 28

On this date in 1998 in Orient, Ohio, white supremacist Cheyne Kehoe, 21, began serving his eight-year prison sentence for Felony Assault, Attempted Murder, and Carrying a Concealed Weapon. Kehoe, who is also an anti-government extremist, was convicted for his role involving a shootout with Ohio law enforcement officers in February 1997. Kehoe completed his prison term on June 12, 2008.

On this date in 2009 in a Long Island (Suffolk County), New York court, seven Patchogue-Medford High School students previously charged with targeting and killing a Latino man on November 8, 2008, were indicted on 24 counts of various hate crimes—all targeting Latinos and dating as far back as December, 2007—including assault, gang assault, harassment, robbery and attempted robbery. These grand jury indictments arose after the U.S. Justice Department investigated hate crime allegations on Long Island by Latino residents there following the brutal stabbing murder of Marcelo Lucero, 37, of Patchogue. Each of the teenagers—whose identities are listed at our November 8 calendar date—could have received four-and-a-half years in prison for these charges, if convicted as charged. On February 2, 2009, in a Riverhead, New York courtroom, Jeffrey Conroy, 17—a Medford, New York man who sports a swastika tattoo on his right thigh, and the man who stabbed Mr. Lucero to death in November, 2008—pleaded not guilty to the newly filed charges. The other defendants also pleaded not guilty. On February 11, 2010, State Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle ruled Conroy's comment to police only minutes after the attack that "I stabbed him" would be permitted at Conroy's trial. On April 19, 2010, a jury convicted Conroy, 19, of manslaughter as a hate crime, but acquitted him of second-degree murder. The jury also convicted Conroy of first-degree gang assault and fourth-degree conspiracy for Mr. Lucero's death; and, Conroy was also convicted of three counts of second-degree attempted assault as hate crimes for attacks on three other Hispanic men in early November, 2008. Jeffrey Conroy could have received between eight to 25 years in prison for his manslaughter conviction, and Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Megan O'Donnell asked for the maximum penalty to be imposed noting that Jeffrey Conroy was arrested in 2008 in an assault case that was later dismissed, was suspected of slashing tires at an automotive dealership but never arrested, and had 24 disciplinary incidents at his high school between 2006-2008. On May 26, 2010, State Supreme Court Justice Robert W. Doyle sentenced the 19-year-old man to 25 years in prison. See our November 8 hate date for the outcomes of the other defendants' legal cases.

On this date in 2010 in Boca Raton, Florida, Ruby Williams, 65, an African-American grandmother, was pushed to the ground near a park bathroom at the Red Reef Park on North Ocean Boulevard by two men—one white and one Hispanic and both about 20 years of age—who hurled racial slurs at her as they punched her repeatedly before dragging her to a secluded spot where she passed out. Ms. Williams, who said the perpetrators also told her during the attack that African-Americans were not welcome at the park, required six stitches to her lip. If you have information about this crime, please call the police at 1-800-458-Tips.

In Groton, Connecticut on this date in 2012, Paul S. Wragg, 51, of Mystic, Connecticut, allegedly stole and vandalized a church sign in front of Potter's House Church of God on Sandy Hollow Road. On the same date as this incident, Wragg was charged with sixth-degree larceny, third-degree criminal mischief, and third-degree intimidation based on bigotry/bias (a hate crime). A police officer is said to have witnessed the vandalism and theft. Police also said they are investigating several other similar types of vandalism to church signs in Groton. Paul Wragg's case will be adjudicated out of the New London Superior Court.