Critics say proposed Indiana hate crimes bill doesn't go far enough

Although his family, originally from Illinois, believes the assault was motivated by race, they don't support a proposed hate crimes law for Indiana. They say it isn't strong enough.

"My child almost lost his life all because we're African-American, and we were in the wrong community and did not know," La'Kysha Gardner told an Indiana Senate committee last week.

"As of right now I am a Hoosier. But I wish that I wasn't. I wish that I'd never left home to come here, because I don't feel as though I'm protected. I don't feel as though my family is protected," she said.

Her 16-year-old son, Jason, who is black, was beaten by three youths in June and left by an Allen County creek.

In the days following the attack, the family says, they made numerous reports to police about racial threats by one of the attackers.

"I oppose this bill because it's just not enough. The police looked me in my face and asked me, 'What do you want us do?'" La'Kysha Gardner said.

"If you're going to adopt a bill, make sure the bill is for everyone and make sure the police know they need help, they need guidance, they need extra training in this matter," she said.

Lee Leazier II, 16, who is white, was charged with battery resulting in serious bodily injury in the Gardner case. Last week, he was sentenced to 30 days in detention followed by a probation period.

The day following the youth's sentencing, the Gardners were in front of a Senate panel debating the scope of hate crimes legislation for Indiana.

Senate Bill 418, authored by Sen. Susan Glick, R-LaGrange, would establish bias as a motivated crime, allowing judges to use bias as an aggravating circumstance when sentencing an offender.

"It gives them something to hang their hat on when they're saying I find these circumstances to be such that it should be enhanced because it was an aggravator, at the time of sentencing," Glick said.

The bill would require police agencies to keep data on bias crimes.

After heated discussion in the Senate Corrections and Criminal Code Committee on Tuesday, members will gather again for a possible vote sending it out of committee. Amendments are expected.

Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have some form of hate crimes legislation.

However, Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill's office said the bill doesn't add protections for Hoosiers.

"We feel it's unnecessary and virtually symbolic legislation that doesn't actually serve as a crime deterrent," said Parvonay Stover, government affairs director for Hill's office.

Representatives from the cities of Indianapolis and Fishers said passage of the bill would reinforce economic development recruitment with prospective employers.

"A big part of attracting and retaining talent is sending a message that in our city and our state that we welcome all," said Angela Smith Jones, deputy director of economic development for the city of Indianapolis. "We want to send a message that the law is on your side."

Support for the bill also came from Hoosiers who said they had been victims of discrimination.

-- A Bloomington resident who identifies as a transgender woman said her vehicle had been vandalized and slurs shouted at her. One man reportedly fired a gunshot in her direction.

-- A northwest Indianapolis businessman said he came to his business last September to find graffiti sprayed on walls reviling his Sikh religion.

-- A member of the progressive Unitarian Universalist church in West Lafayette said his church was targeted last week with racist and anti-gay banners.

In what led to a heated discussion, Terre Haute attorney James Bopp said the bill doesn't go far enough in protecting police officers, firefighters and even President Donald Trump supporters who experience prejudice.

"The bill, if it has any effect, has the effect of limiting people that are protected against hate crimes to only a selective list of privileged people who apparently liberal and corporate elites prefer over other people," Bopp said.

Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, a committee member, asked Bopp, "As public policy-makers, why can't we say that something is so egregious as to attack someone for a characteristic that we want as a policy in the state of Indiana to say we will not tolerate it. What is the problem with that, sir?"

Bopp said the law shouldn't be based on selective beliefs. As an example, he mentioned anger expressed against law enforcement officers and against Trump supporters at rallies.

"The legislation that you are considering would say that the hate directed at the Trump supporter, you don't care about that," Bopp said.