Police arrested 20-year-old Michael D. Murphy for public intoxication and assault outside Iowa City nightclub Studio 13 early Friday morning:
“Officers learned Murphy had made multiple unprovoked and derogatory comments about a man's sexual orientation while the man and his friends were standing in the alley next to Studio 13. Murphy left the alley and continued south on Linn Street before he walked back to the man and struck him in the side of the head with a closed fist.”
Murphy faces hate crime charges, although it's not clear if those will mean a stiffer sentence than the one he would receive for assault in violation of individual rights, which the Iowa City Press Citizen reports is “an aggravated misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine upon conviction.”
