No hate crimes for homophobic unrest in South Lake Tahoe – Asamnews

By Sunita Sohrabji, American Community Media

A man from the South Pacific Taoe, who shouted racist and homophobic hands with his interracial neighbors, will not serve in prison.

In Home Security Video film material Last autumn, Mark Douglas – former neighbor of Norman Randy Pratt and his wife Kimyoauth, who is Cambodian American, were repeatedly seen: “You are a pussy.” “F ***** gg *** s;” and “Little f **** t.”

Douglas repeated the unrest and then escalated to death threats. “I would not go to sleep. I'll come to see you. I will take care of you exactly as I did with the rest of the F ***** GG ***,” he shouted, as shown on video recordings. Then he went over and kicked Randy Pratt twice.

No hate crash accusation

The Pratts had asked the public prosecutor of the El Dorado district to complain about Douglas for a hate crime. But Douglas was charged only because of criminal threats and battery, both offenses.

Douglas should appear in court on May 2 to accept the conditions of a plea. The deputy district prosecutor of El Dorado County, Lisette Suder, told American Community Media that Douglas' lawyer had appeared for him and that in the absence in the change in the plea.

Douglas was sentenced to 30 days of district prison. But if he now lives outside of the state, he will be served with an alternative prison sentence through community service, Suder explained. This corresponds to 112 hours of non -profit service (30 days minus a day on which he was in custody). The proof of the completion of this non -profit service must be provided by September 19.

According to Suder, the perpetrator must also remain 100 meters from the Pratts. Douglas must not own weapons and has to complete an rage management course by August 1, said Suder.

Harmful effects on children

Kimyoauth Pratt filed an impact of the victim at the court and said that her little children, aged 7 and 9, were deeply affected by the incident. “The diverse threats about a 45-minute time, which Mark Douglas shouted on August 3, 2024, while he stood in front of our house and went up and down, left very harmful and permanent effects on me and my two small children,” wrote Pratt in the explanation to ACOM.

She noticed that she was born in a refugee camp when her family fought against Cambodia during Khmer Rouge's genocide.

“While my family successfully escaped one of the greatest peoples in mankind, I wished that I could tell my children that hate base has violence here in El Dorado County.”

“The Asian hate that Mark Douglas demonstrated on me and my children – until his actions against us – has damaged our feeling of security, security and belief in justice of justice,” wrote Pratt.

Justice not served

“I am very disappointed that – in this case – justice was not delivered to all those affected by the crime that Mark Douglas committed,” she wrote.

Randy Pratt also expressed his disappointment that no additional charges would be raised against Douglas.

Marita etcubañez, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives in Asian Americans who drive Justice/AAJC, ACOM said in an earlier interview that the incident could increase at the level of a hate crime, the public prosecutor usually after what is easiest to prove.

In 2023 – last year, for which data are available – 1,970 hate crimes of law enforcement authorities were reported in California. This year, 679 cases of hate crimes were sent to prosecutors, but only 5 went to court. In an interview in April in April, the Attorney General of California, Rob Bonta, ACOM said that hate crimes were notoriously to be followed. “They require evidence of the intention. Design must come with a hate crime with the hate element, which is often difficult to establish,” he said.

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