Eleven charges, “hate crimes” dropped
At the 11th Hour, however, the three-day jury trial was quietly switched to a plea hearing, and Attorneys Kemp and Firkus reported that they had come to an agreement: Seline would plead guilty to second degree reckless endangerment, substantial battery, disorderly conduct and hit and run. This left numerous other charges - including the more serious first degree reckless endangerment four - dropped, but read in for sentencing purposes. In addition, all of the “hate crime” modifiers were dropped as Kemp stated that he believed Seline’s crimes to be motivated more by jealousy than racism. Kemp later admitted that, though there were racial epithets being used by Seline, there wasn’t enough evidence of racial motivation to hold up in a trial setting, and that it was far more likely that he was motivated by jealousy of whom his girlfriend was spending time with, along with general escalation of the confrontation.
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