Kin of Dragging Victim Backs Hate Crime Bill

The killing of a black Texas man who was dragged to his death highlights the need for a federal law making it clear that all hate crime violators “will pay the price for their crimes,” the victim’s eldest daughter told a Senate panel on Wednesday.

“I think there should be federal jurisdiction over crimes so hateful,” Francis Renee Mullins, 27, of Lufkin, Texas, said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Mullins fought back tears as she spoke about her father, James Byrd Jr., 49, who police say was tied to a truck and dragged to his death after accepting a ride home from a niece’s bridal shower June 7. A grand jury in Jasper County this week indicted three white men with links to racist groups.

“The men who murdered my father had a choice that morning. And they chose violence,” she said. “Therefore, the laws of the land should punish them.”

A bill sponsored by Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) would make it easier for the Justice Department to prosecute such crimes. It also would broaden existing law to cover offenses based on gender, disability and sexual orientation. Existing federal law prohibits hate crimes motivated by race, color, religion or national origin.

President Clinton endorsed the hate crime bill last year. Civil rights groups and a range of organizations representing women, gays, blacks, Latinos and Asian-Pacific Americans also support it.

However, U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara, representing the U.S. Judicial Conference’s criminal law committee, said the bill would duplicate existing law by federalizing numerous crimes that are handled by the states and increase the burden on the federal judiciary.

Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws against hate crimes, 22 of which include sexual orientation, according to the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay and lesbian advocacy group. Eight states have no hate crime laws.

Eric Holder Jr., the deputy U.S. attorney general, said the bill is a “thoughtful, measured response to a critical problem that faces our nation” and urged its swift adoption.