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Aug 4, 2008 10:22 pm US/Central
Dallas 'Hate Crime' Victim Speaks Out
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
CBS 11 News talked with the Dallas man who police say was the target of a vicious hate crime.
He was an aspiring guitarist who looked much younger than his 42-years, but that was before the morning of July 17.
Jimmy Dean still plays the guitar but he is scarred for life. "I'm doing better, aside from not having much of a face left," he explained. "[I] don't look as good as I used to."
Dean was beaten and robbed not far from his apartment off Throckmorton and Cedar Springs, near the city's gay bars and clubs.
Police say Jonathan Gunter and Bobby Singleton yelled gay slurs before they were arrested by nearby security guards.
The victim remembers almost nothing about the attack. "I remember about the first hit and that was it. There's a couple of things I heard as I was going down."
Those things he heard were gay slurs according to witnesses. Dallas police classified the case as a hate crime, but the district attorney's office decided to prosecute it as an aggravated robbery charge.
The difference for Dean is pretty clear. "Either way how you slice it's hate. I think they did target me," he said.
Dean's jaw and cheek bones were crushed from kicks to the head by two men he says he feels sorry for.
"I'm glad they got caught before somebody ended up dead... because obviously they were going to do this eventually to somebody," he said gratefully while still hoping for maximum punishment. "As long as they get their 25-to-life that's all that matters."
According to officials with the Dallas District Attorney's Office the assailants can get just as harsh a sentence for an aggravated robbery charge as they would for a hate crime assault charge. Dean says he understands that decision but thinks a hate crime enhancement sends a stronger message.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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