Two Marines charged with beating a gay man won't face hate crime charges, WSAV reports:
"Lance Corporal Christopher Stanzel and Corporal Keil Cronauer are charged with misdemeanor battery in the june attack of 26-year-old keiran daly (sic) in johnson square. A police report says the attack apparently happened after the marines learned Kieran was homosexual and they thought he quote 'winked at them.' The defense and prosecution agreed to delay a hearing earlier this month to allow time to review a video related to the case. A rescheduled hearing is now set for September 9th."
Georgia Equality Executive Director Jeff Graham called the misdemeanor charges, when posted in June, "outrageous" and "a miscarriage of justice."
According to The Georgia Voice: "After the alleged attack on June 12, LGBT activists in Savannah and Atlanta called for the FBI to investigate the incident under the federal hate crimes law. Johnson said after the FBI, the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department and the DA’s office reviewed Daly's medical records and conducted further investigation, they determined this case had 'no merit' to be considered a hate crime. 'I can’t speak on the specifics because this is pending litigation, but for a crime to be considered a felony [which a hate crime is considered to be] there has to be proof of a sustained injury,' Johnson said."
