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Man in Prison

Prosecutors Seeking Hate Crime Charges And The Death Penalty For Atlanta Spa Shooter 

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Robert Aaron Long, a 21-year-old white man, was indicted on murder and domestic terrorism charges this Tuesday for the Atlanta-area spa shootings. Prosecutors also claimed that they are planning to seek the death penalty and increased hate crime charges, according to court records. 

A Fulton County grand jury indicted Long in the killings of Soon Chung Park, 74; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; Sun Cha Kim, 69; and Yong Ae Yue, 63, at two spas in Atlanta in March. Another grand jury in Cherokee County has yet to decide on charges against Long for the shooting at Young’s Asian Massage in Acworth, 35 miles north of Atlanta. 

The Fulton County indictment showed that Long is facing four counts of murder, four counts of felony murder, one count of domestic terrorism, five counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and five counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

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According to a notice of intent from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, “the hate crime charges would be based on alleged crimes committed against the victims due to their actual or perceived race, national origin, sex, and gender.” 

Willis also submitted a notice to seek the death penalty over the four victims deaths in Atlanta. This also marks the first time Georgia’s hate crime statute will be used. 

In a press conference, however, Willis also acknowledged how she previously opposed the death penalty during her campaign for district attorney: “Last year, I told the voters of Fulton County that I could not imagine a circumstance where I would seek it, and at that time I did not. Unfortunately, a case has arisen in the first few months of my term that I believe warrants the ultimate penalty, and we shall seek it.”

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Willis also claimed she made her decision after reviewing the suspects statements to the police, visiting the crime scenes herself, and speaking with the victims’ families. 

Long shot and killed the four women in Atlanta on March 16 after traveling from Acworth, where he had killed four others at another spa: Xiaojie Tan, 49, Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33, Daoyou Feng, 44, and Paul Andre Michels, 54.

Six of the eight victims were Asian women, and the shootings occurred amid a major surge of anti-Asian hate crimes across the country brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, however, hate crimes against Asian people have long been an issue in this country. 

Police claim that Long initially told investigators race was not a motive in the shootings, however, officials claimed they were still investigating. The specific businesses that were targeted were explicitly marketed as Asian or international spas advertising majority women and Asian employees, and the fact that Long traveled such a great length to continue out his horrific crimes is why Willis and prosecutors are seeking the ultimate form of punishment.

Indictment

Jussie Smollett Indicted, Again, Over False Hate Crime Reports

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TV actor Jussie Smollett is back in the headlines this week as the former Empire star has been indicted recently on six new charges regarding his supposed “hoax” attack that occurred in the beginning of last year. The charges have Smollett facing six counts of disorderly conduct and lying to Chicago police about the details and validity of the attack. 

On January 29th 2019, Smollett, a gay black man, said he was walking home from a sandwich shop at two in the morning in downtown Chicago when two men approached him. The two men supposedly began attacking Smollett while shouting a slew of racist and homophobic slurs. The situation, according to the original reports, then became even more aggressive as the men began screaming “this is MAGA country” at the actor while pouring bleach on him and tying a noose around his neck. “MAGA” of course referring to Donald Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ campaign slogan. 

One month after the initial police report filing, to most Americans’ surprise, Smollett was the one who ended up getting charged with 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct. The charges stated that Smollett hired the two men to stage a “racist and homophobic attack” against him late at night in Chicago. 

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Yet again, one month later, the story got even more interesting when all 16 counts of disorderly conduct were dropped against Smollett. Prosecutors, and the judge working on his case at the time, agreed to drop the charges due to a lack of evidence and too many inconsistencies within all witness accounts of the supposed staged attack against Smollett. 

“I have been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one. I would not be my mother’s son if I was capable of one drop of what I’ve been accused of. This has been an incredibly difficult time, honestly one of the worst of my entire life. But I am a man of faith, and I am a man that has knowledge of my history, and I would not bring my family, our lives or the movement through a fire like this. I just wouldn’t,” Smollett stated after his initial charges were dropped in March 2019. 

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Now, nearly one year after the entire back-and-forth ordeal, Smollett is due back in court on February 24th to face Chicago Police yet again. When the initial charges against Smollett were made in February of last year, the police states that Smollett was very publicly unhappy with his salary on the show Empire, so much so that he likely staged the attack as a means to drum up even more publicity for the show, and create empathy for Smollett himself. 

Police typically don’t take too kindly to having their time wasted, so this time around, Smollett is being charged and sued by the city for over $130,000. The large sum of money would be used as overtime payment for the officers who worked with Smollett on his initial report of the attack, and who spent the month deeply investigating the attackers who were suspected to have done this at the time.

Dan Webber is the special prosecutor who a judge initially appointed to investigate Smollett and his dropped charges back in August, 2019. Webb investigated the charges, the reasons they were dropped and all individuals involved; one of which is Kim Foxx, the state attorney for the specific county in which the “attack” occurred. Foxx is being investigated for a repeated pattern of favoring rich, powerful, and influential clients in regards to who deserves to be prosecuted, and who deserves to have their charges dropped. 

Smollett already has paid over $10,000 to the city of Chicago “as payment in full in connection with the dismissal of the charges against him,” according to his attorney, so only time will now tell how this story will finally come to a close.