Does Ohio need a hate crime law? Republicans split

A bipartisan pair of Ohio lawmakers defended their bill that would make hate crimes illegal and stiffen penalties for assaulting or terrorizing someone based on their race, gender or even political affiliation.

“Look, as a black man in America, I was called the N-word a lot — now that I’m a black politician as a Republican, I’ve been called the N-word more often than I’ve ever been in my life,” said state Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Township.

A Toledo-area lawmaker said he is using his personal experiences to make Ohio safer.

He and state Rep. Dontavius ​​Jarrells are co-sponsors Ohio House Bill 306. It would prohibit hate crimes and allow victims to take civil action against perpetrators, which could result in fines of up to $25,000.

The legislation also stipulates that threats of violence may include making a false report that may be related to swatting.

Lawmakers say the law protects free speech because charges can only be brought if the perpetrator poses an imminent threat, acts recklessly and has an “obvious capacity” for violence. The victim must also fear that he or she is in danger.

“House Bill 306 fundamentally seeks to close loopholes that hateful individuals use to terrorize our communities based on their perceived identity,” Williams said.

Current Ohio law has no hate crime provisions.

The country does exploit ethnic intimidation, which elevates an offense such as menacing from a misdemeanor to a felony if a suspect targets a person because of their “race, color, religion or national origin.”

HB 306 creates a novel law protecting a person’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, familial status, military status, disability, a person’s position in a labor dispute, and political affiliation or position.

This bill is a compromise, Jarrells said in an interview when it was introduced, but he believes that if someone commits a crime against a member of the LGBTQ+ community, it would fall under “sexual” protections.

In his testimony, Williams acknowledged that the bill would apply to sexual orientation.

Williams has another bill, HB457which would toughen penalties for political crimes, including allowing prosecutors to seek the death penalty in murder cases.

Under this legislation, the court must consider whether the suspect committed the crime because of the victim’s race, religion, elected or appointed position, political affiliation, political affiliations or “biological sex”.

Under current law, the court must also consider whether the act was motivated by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or religion.

State Rep. Eric Synenberg, D-Beachwood, questioned both bills.

“Why do we explicitly consider every other group or identity, including now our political identity, but not gender expression and gender identity?” – asked Synenberg.

Gender doesn’t apply here, Williams replied.

“I don’t believe that someone who can change something about themselves on a whim, on a daily basis, is constitutionally protected,” he said.

He continued to claim, without data or evidence, that there are “large numbers” of transgender people committing violence against others because of their beliefs. He referenced the 2023 Nashville school shooting of a transgender man. Williams said he hasn’t seen violence based on “sexual identity.”

Synenberg mentioned that transgender people do face violence. Research from University of California shows that transgender people experience four times more violence than cisgender people.

In a report prepared by University of Pennsylvaniacisgender people make up 99.9% of all mass shootings.

Even though Williams only wanted to protect identities that cannot be “changed” every day, he supports political connections as a special class.

Policy

Last week, a man pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors stemming from an alleged road rage incident involving U.S. Congressman Max Miller.

In May, the FBI charged a New Albany resident with sending white powder and a bullet for Attorney General Dave Yost.

In addition to threats against the state’s top cop, the suspect sent gunpowder and violent messages to dozens of other public officials, such as Sec. of State Frank LaRose and Treasurer Robert Sprague.

In July, a Dayton man was arrested for leaving his family home threatening voicemail to Congressman Jim Jordan.

In the last two years, Congresswoman Shontel BrownYost and several state lawmakers were “duped” by individuals falsely reporting sedate crimes that occurred at their addresses. The goal of this scam is to send a enormous police or SWAT team to close in on an unsuspecting victim.

But when a man murdered Minnesota’s House speaker and tried to kill other Democratic representatives in June, more troops were sent to monitor the Capitol Square area.

House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, is pushing for additional protections but is frustrated with the timing.

“Sometimes politicians only show empathy and compassion when it affects them, right?” Isaacsohn said. “We saw it in issue after issue.”

State Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, said he doesn’t understand why motive is crucial in a violent crime.

He gave an example of how he and another colleague were punched in the face, but the suspect only took aim because he was a Christian lawmaker, not another representative – which would have made Stewart’s assault more likely to result in a greater penalty.

“Why do we care? The crime is the same. Why should the punishment be any different?” Stewart asked Williams.

Williams responded that it was crucial for everyone to have equal protection, citing the example that lawyers have privileges that ordinary Ohioans do not have.

“As a lawyer, I will not stand in front of my constituents and say that I am more protected when I go into court to defend murderers than you are when you go into your church,” Williams said.

During the exchange between the two men, Stewart said they had “conducted an experiment with hate crime legislation” and that the situation had not improved because of the laws in place.

“Doesn’t that suggest that these laws are not having the deterrent effect they were intended to have, and we have quite a long history to demonstrate that?” he asked Stewart.

Williams said he would oppose it and noted that hate crimes have long gone unsolved.

“On our side of the caucus, there hasn’t been anyone in this community who has committed violence based on the color of their skin, and fortunately, I now properly represent this community,” Williams said, noting that some people don’t like that he is part of the GOP. “I can say I saw it.”

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This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and are published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication on other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.