Ohio Teen Sentenced in Parking Lot Noose Attack

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MOUNT VERNON, Ohio – A central Ohio teenager accused of putting a noose around a Hispanic boy's neck and dragging him in a parking lot has been sentenced to 10 days in jail.

Ten days? For dragging someone with a noose? It was a hate crime, and a potentially lethal one. This "punishment" is merely a slap on the wrist.

Quote :

Seventeen-year-old Robert Cantu says in May 2008 he was dragged from a sidewalk to a parking lot with the noose wrapped around his neck by a group of teenagers shouting racial slurs. He says the teens threatened to hang him before a bystander intervened.

I don't know if this qualifies as attempted murder or not...but I were in the shoes of the kid who was threatened with being hanged, I'd sure feel threatened.

Quote :

His family says it plans to sue the city, dubbed the state's Most Livable Community in 1994.

Not for Hispanics, apparently.

10 days?

10 DAYS?

Seriously, America? What the hell!?

10 days? WTF is wrong with the judge? I also want to know why he was tried in juvenile court, though I suppose he may've been 17 when he committed the crime. Actually, I want to know more about OH law in general, that allowed such a light sentence to occur.

FTA: "He dropped his original plea of not guilty and pleaded no contest to ethnic intimidation.

A charge of aggravated menacing was dropped."

No. . . battery? No assault? "Seventeen-year-old Robert Cantu says in May 2008 he was dragged from a sidewalk to a parking lot with the noose wrapped around his neck by a group of teenagers shouting racial slurs. He says the teens threatened to hang him before a bystander intervened."

I'm wondering if there isn't more (less?) going on here.

What the fuck? His defender better not have gone down the "boys will be boys" route and passed this off as a joke gone too far. That defense always makes me scream in frustration.