TWO WOMEN were killed. There is evidence that the murder was a hate crime. Unfortunately, if the murder had not happened in a national park, the Commonwealth of Virginia would not have pursued a hate crime charge.
This is unacceptable. Virginia hate crime laws do not consider sexual orientation as a motive for a crime (www.lambdalegal.org). Times are changing, we know that people are gay, and Virginia needs to recognize its gay citizens and protect their rights against hate crimes as well. Virginia should revise its hate crime laws to include sexual orientation and a life sentence in prison or the death penalty.
David Darrell Rice was indicted last Tuesday for the murder of two female hikers in Shenandoah National Park in 1996. He was charged with capital murder and a hate crime for singling out Julianne Marie Williams and Laura S. Winans because of their gender and sexual orientation. Rice is currently being jailed in Petersburg, Va. for an unrelated abduction of a female biker in 1997 ("Man Indicted in Slaying of Female Hikers in Va.," The Washington Post, April 10). The case has been brought to a federal court because the slayings occurred in a national park.
In the Washington Post article, prosecutors quoted Rice as saying that he "hates gays" and that Winans and Williams "deserved to die because they were lesbian whores." Rice was punished for these admissions of guilt for the sole reason that the crime took place on federal property and was thus treated as a federal crime. The Commonwealth of Virginia would not have punished Rice for hate crimes, charging him only with murder and ignoring the intent behind it, because, in Virginia, acts of malice in regard to gender or sexual orientation are not classified as hate crimes. This needs to change.
The grand jury has determined that Rice selected his victims because of his hatred of women and homosexuals. If convicted, he could get the death penalty. As of now, Virginia's definition of a hate crime entails "any unlawful action committed against a person or their property because of his or her race, religious conviction, ethnic/national origin and/or disability" (www.co.fairfax.va.us/police). Sexual orientation is entirely overlooked. It is time to update Virginia's hate crime laws to include sexual orientation.
Luckily, Virginia would at least recognize the fact that Williams and Winans were murdered and followed through with charges against Rice for that. But the murder was brutal, and, as we know from Rice's confessions of guilt, backed by Rice's hatred of gays and women. If Virginia would expand its hate crime laws to include sexual orientation - and posed an unbending punishment for committed acts - crimes such as the murder of these two women could be deterred, and hopefully even disappear in the years to follow the revised law. Even if the more detailed, stricter laws do not work to curb all hate crimes, any life saved is worth the effort of at least trying to protect all the types of people in our society.
The federal government has recognized the gay and lesbian population in its laws. Individual states should do the same, especially since there is evidence that hate crimes do occur based on sexual orientation (case in point: Matthew Shepard). It is evident that Rice preyed on women, and he already has stated that he hates gays. Virginia must be waiting on some clear-cut proof.
National Park murders are highly unusual, with 13 people killed in all of America's parks in 2000. In 1996 alone, nearly 9,000 hate crimes were committed in the United States ("Hate is growing in America," abcnews.go.com, June 17). This disparity between number of hate crimes per year versus park murders clearly shows that Virginia surely cannot assume that the murder of these two women was not the only homosexual-based hate crime to happen in the Commonwealth. We cannot hope that all sexual orientation hate crimes will occur in national parks so that the federal government will handle prosecutions and justice will be served. Virginia needs to take note of the prevalence of hate crimes and the changing of a society full of differing sexual orientations. The hate crime laws need to be re-evaluated and changed to suit all citizens' needs.
At the announcement of the indictment, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft said, "Just as the United States will pursue, prosecute and punish terrorists who attack America out of hatred for what we believe, we will pursue, prosecute and punish those who attack law-abiding Americans out of hatred for who they are." He continued, "Hatred is the enemy of justice, regardless of its source. We will not rest until justice is done" ("Man Indicted in Slaying of Female Hikers in Va.," The Washington Post, April 10).
Take note, Virginia. Show your respect and support for your citizens through expanding hate crime laws that protect everyone.
(Alex Roosenburg's column appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at aroosenburg@cavalierdaily.com.)
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