Aggravated Battery, Hate Crime

My question involves criminal law for the state of: hatecrimes/illinois.

I am wondering if he could counter sue and if so what for.

Well basically a friend is charged for a hatecrime, and is being sued. He was charged with aggrevated battery, but that dropped when they changed unconsious to consious? (thats a red flag right there that things were already being lied about)Read the story to see what im talking about.

the story is: at 1am, him and another friend were walking and saw a really drunk gay guy holding on to another guy. My friend said,"look at those fags all over eachother." Well the gay kid didnt like what was said so he went up to my friend grabbed his shoulder and confronted him on what he had said. Repeatedly he kept getting grabbed by this guy and being asked "what did you say?", and my friend repeatedly said "get out of my face dude" until finally he pushed him away. The guy fell to the cement ground and didnt get up. The push was not very strong, but due to him being really drunk the guy fell.

The cops came and they questioned the guy's friends that are girls, who really had no idea what happened. They took him to jail(he got bailed out later). The gay dude went to the hospital that night and was treated for alcohol poisoning, and was released the next day. I am sure there might have been some cuts or something landing on cement, but if he wasn't so drunk he probably wasnt falling.

Well this kid went public with the story and completely lied(it was on the 10 o'clock news). He contradicts himself several times, one time he says hes "pulled back", then another time he said he was pushed to the ground. He does not remember a single detail of what happened. Also in this newscast he lies and says all he did was ignore him and my friend came up and pushed him after calling him a "fag". They also said in the story that the gay guy "has trouble remembering every detail"(well duh he was blacked out from being drunk)

So basically he has a court date in may, and we were wondering what if anything should we be looking for. Should we countersue? Do they have a legitimate case?

I know very little about law, so the things that popped in my head were slander or defimation of character.. and sue the gay dude for court fees?



anything that is not clear please let me know, for i am dyslexic and i could have made some mistakes. any questions please feel free to ask me, and i DO have a link to the news piece, however im not sure that i should show it here just in case?

Mikey, "hatecrime" is not a state.

We still need to know the state, as laws vary. Using the slur of "fag" is sometimes enough to get you charged.

Illinois, sorry

You know a a little to much for somebody who wasn't there. Are you sure it isn't you charged with this crime? And why do you refer the the alleged victim as the "gay guy"? This sounds a little prejudice to me. I'm strait as they come, but I detest any form of discrimination against a persons race, creed, social statue, or sexually. Bigotry makes me sick.

That said, your friend should seek an attorney. Maybe they can uncover the true facts of this case, but the fact your friend initiated the confrontation by calling this man a "fag" isn't gonna help him at all. Juries don't like these kind of things.

The man your friend discriminated against could be charged with assault. He had every right to be angry, but legally he should have walked away. Although, I'm sure 90% of us would have done the same thing.

Send me the news link. I can give you more info after I see it.

Any feedback?

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Quoting Mikeydoes

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I am wondering if he could counter sue and if so what for.

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Why? Was he accused of a crime he did not commit by a person who made a knowing and intentional lie to the police about the alleged crime?

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the story is: at 1am, him and another friend were walking and saw a really drunk gay guy holding on to another guy. My friend said,"look at those fags all over eachother." Well the gay kid didnt like what was said so he went up to my friend grabbed his shoulder and confronted him on what he had said. Repeatedly he kept getting grabbed by this guy and being asked "what did you say?", and my friend repeatedly said "get out of my face dude" until finally he pushed him away.

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I'm gonna guess that the "gay kid" and hi friend will have a vastly different account of the events.

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The guy fell to the cement ground and didnt get up. The push was not very strong, but due to him being really drunk the guy fell.

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That's enough to make the difference.

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The cops came and they questioned the guy's friends that are girls, who really had no idea what happened.

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Ah ... so his friends were there but oblivious to all this? Sorry - not buyin' it.

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The gay dude went to the hospital that night and was treated for alcohol poisoning, and was released the next day. I am sure there might have been some cuts or something landing on cement, but if he wasn't so drunk he probably wasnt falling.

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How do you KNOW he was treated for alcohol poisoning? You could not have gotten that from the hospital, and I doubt the police told you, so what is the source of that little tidbit of info?

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He does not remember a single detail of what happened.

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Then I guess it will come down to the credibility of his friends and the statements of the doctors who will speak about his injuries and how they could have been inflicted.

Oh yeah, there IS a difference between falling and being assaulted or pushed down - you find different types of injuries, and your friend should expect the prosecution to call those witnesses to the stand.

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They also said in the story that the gay guy "has trouble remembering every detail"(well duh he was blacked out from being drunk)

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So your friend says.

Your friend's attorney can subpoena the hospital records and hope they tested him for ETOH (alcohol) ... if they did, he'd better hope he was toasted, or the drunk defense goes right out the window.

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So basically he has a court date in may, and we were wondering what if anything should we be looking for. Should we countersue? Do they have a legitimate case?

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"WE" don't have a case of any kind - you were not charged with a crime. HE might have a case if it can be shown that the victim and his friends made the whole thing up and intentionally lied. That's a hefty burden to meet. But, your friend is welcome to hire an attorney to try and sue the other kid ... though he should probably see about winning the criminal case before he throws out even more money in such an attempt.


- Carl

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Hate Incident
Hate-motivated incidents are defined as behavior which constitutes an expression of hostility against the person or property of another because of the Victim's race, religion, disability, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Hate-motivated incidents include those actions that are motivated by bias, but do not meet the necessary elements required to prove a crime. They may include such behavior as non-threatening name calling, using racial slurs or disseminating racist leaflets.

http://www.state.il.us/cdhc/definitions.htm

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Yup, that charge is going to stick.

@carl

The guy went public with it to the news. In the news report it says "he has trouble remembering details". It is also clear that he doesn't remember how he got to the ground and he was told by his friends different stories. If you would like to see the news report, he lies about the entire story.

Is it a hatecrime if he pushed him for the fact that the guy would not stop touching him, and not for the fact that he was gay, because that is the reason.

Also his friends that were questioned truely did not know what happened, either that or they were covering it up in order to make their friend innocent.

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Quoting Mikeydoes

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The guy went public with it to the news. In the news report it says "he has trouble remembering details". It is also clear that he doesn't remember how he got to the ground and he was told by his friends different stories. If you would like to see the news report, he lies about the entire story.

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You weren't there ... how do you he is lying?

It will be up to a judge and jury to decide if the assorted parties are credible or not.

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Is it a hatecrime if he pushed him for the fact that the guy would not stop touching him, and not for the fact that he was gay, because that is the reason.

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It can be ... it depends on the details and the status of hate crimes laws in your state. They tend to go overboard so that a simple disagreement between two people can become a hate crime with an ill-timed word or phrase ... so, yeah, he can likely be charged.

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Also his friends that were questioned truely did not know what happened, either that or they were covering it up in order to make their friend innocent.

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How do you know so much about what the various parties said? Do you have the police report?

- Carl

My brother was there and i asked him every detail...