Official seeks to make homeless attacks a hate crime

Official seeks to make homeless attacks a hate crime
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061209/ap_on_re_us/hate_crimes_homeless

By DAVID ROYSE, Associated Press Writer
Sat Dec 9, 3:07 PM ET

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A Florida legislator wants to make attacks on homeless people hate crimes, bringing harsher penalties, after a series of assaults on the same night.

State Rep. Priscilla Taylor says some young people appear to specifically target the homeless because of who they are — the definition of a hate crime.

"Until that stops and people really get the message that it's not OK to do this, we need additional penalties," Taylor said Friday about the bill she filed late last month.

A similar measure last year died without passing the Senate, but Taylor's bill could get a boost if Gov.-elect Charlie Crist supports it.

"I'd be open to that," Crist said recently when asked if he'd support hate crime legislation.

The proposal would mean minimum three-year prison sentences.

Among the attacks that spurred the legislation was one in which 45-year-old Norris Gaynor was killed, and another that night that was recorded by a security camera. The video showed two young men beating Jacques Pierre with a baseball bat on the campus of Florida Atlantic University.

Three young men were indicted on murder charges in Gaynor's killing and with attempted murder in the beatings of Pierre and Raymond Perez, who also was attacked that night.

The Legislature meets in March and April but legislation is considered in committee meetings all winter.

Ron Book, chairman of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, said no one is certain about the number of attacks on homeless people because many likely go unreported.