Texas graffiti case test first amendment with felony hate crime

Jury finds that it is not a hate crime: Jury finds Tarrant County activist guilty of vandalizing church, but not of anti-Israel hate crime | Fort Worth Report

I briefly entertained the notion, thinking the graffiti might be some anti-Christian message with some threatening messaging. The posted video doesn't tell you that what it said was "**** Israel". I think the jury finds rightly.

 

Must be a slow day @tinman

you’re grasping

 

wonder how people would feel if she chose to burn a cross in front of a black church

 

Per the article, he was found guilty for misdemeanor vandalism. That seems right.

Or if it was a post-it note stuck to their computer monitor saying hang in there, buddy!

What's the relevance? Your hypothetical is 100% different from the base case. Writing **** Israel on a pro-Israel church is like saying, you're evil for holding the positions you hold. Burning a cross in front of a black church is like saying, we're going to come kill you because we don't like what you are. Neither is very nice, but they're different.

I'd also point out that to qualify as a hate crime, the targeting must be due to the victim's protected class (race, religion, sex, etc). The church was targeted not because they're Jewish nor because they're Christian but because of their particular political stance, which is btw not shared by all Christian churches. It was inappropriate to try to call it a hate crime because it doesn't fit the crime on its face. But, Texas seems to be on a mission to crush all criticism of Israel. Courts kept the state from abusing its power.

 

it was a comment aimed at her First Amendment argument. Not sure that's gonna fly