Two Hate Crime Charges Filed
Today the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged two separate hate crime cases.
In case 22–1–00758–0, the defendant was charged with a single Hate Crime count. No previous felony cases involving this individual have been referred to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. He remains in the King County Jail.
Separately, in another case (22–1–00756–3), a defendant was charged with a Hate Crime, Assault in the Third Degree, and Assault in the Fourth Degree. This defendant, who remains in custody, has multiple misdemeanor cases handled by different offices. He also has one previous felony referral to our office — an 2019 assault case that was charged by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. He was sentenced in Feb. 2020. Sentencing guidelines are set by state lawmakers, and the sentencing guidelines for that felony assault conviction was 1–3 months. Ultimately, he was sentenced to 88 days, at the high end of that sentencing range set by state lawmakers.
Additional funding to prosecute hate crimes
As part of the KCPAO’s most recent supplemental budget process, our team has secured support from Executive Dow Constantine to fund 2 new full-time employee positions (1 deputy prosecutor and 1 paralegal) fully dedicated to the prosecution of Hate Crimes.
Hate crime statistics in King County
- There were 240 hate crimes charged by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office between 2018 and this afternoon, Aug. 4. There are additional cases still under investigation by police awaiting referrals to prosecutors.
- Here are the numbers of charged cases by year:
- 2022: 25 (through 8/4)
- 2021: 56
- 2020: 69
- 2019: 49
- 2018: 41
- Hate crimes against someone’s race or ethnicity is the most common, with Black people the most frequent victims. Of the 25 cases filed so far in 2022, at least 12 involve anti-race/ethnicity crimes and 7 of those are anti-Black.
- Hates crimes against someone’s sexual orientation is the second most common type of hate crime. Of the 25 cases charged so far in 2022, at least 4 are anti-sexual orientation crimes and another 2 involved anti-gender or anti-gender expression cases.
